Granted Patent B2

US 12,637,388 · App. 17/940,515 · Granted May 26, 2026

Inventors: Matthew John Dejneka (Corning, NY); Jesse Kohl (Horseheads, NY); Alexander Mikhailovich Streltsov (Corning, NY)

Assignee: CORNING INCORPORATED

C03C23/0025C03C10/0027C03C10/0054C03C21/002C03C2214/20

Abstract

Claims (16)

1 . A method of bleaching a glass-ceramic article, comprising:

irradiating a glass-ceramic article with a beam from a laser, the glass-ceramic article comprising a bulk having an amorphous silicate glass phase and a crystalline phase, the irradiating a glass-ceramic article comprising directing the beam of the laser into a thickness of the glass-ceramic article to form an aperture in the bulk, the beam comprising a wavelength configured to couple into respective absorption bands of the crystalline phase and/or of other constituents of the bulk,

wherein a ratio between a transmittance of the aperture and a transmittance of the bulk is at least 7,000 at first wavelengths from 500 nm to 1100 nm; and

wherein the wavelength of the beam of the laser is within a range of 2 μm and 3 um.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmittance of the aperture is at least 70%/mm at the first wavelengths.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmittance of the bulk is less than 0.01%/mm at the first wavelengths.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the transparent bleached region has a resolution of about 20 μm in a direction perpendicular to the thickness.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the transparent bleached region has the resolution along an entirety of the thickness.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the crystalline phase comprises a species of M x WO 3 where 0<x<1 and where M is an intercalated dopant cation, the wavelength of the beam of the laser coupling to the absorption band of the species of M x WO 3 during the irradiating.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the other constituents of the bulk comprise chemical hydroxyl groups, and wherein the wavelength of the beam is configured to couple into an absorption band of the chemical hydroxyl groups in the bulk.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the directing the beam of the laser comprises directing a focused, moving beam within the thickness of the glass-ceramic article to form the aperture in the bulk.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the directing the beam of the laser comprises directing a defocused, static beam through the thickness of the glass-ceramic article to form the aperture in the bulk.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising heat treating the glass-ceramic article to 400° C. for 1 hour after the irradiating, the aperture having a retained transmittance of at least 50%/mm at the first wavelengths after the heating treating.

11 . The article of claim 10 , wherein the aperture has a transmittance of at least 80%/mm and a retained transmittance of at least 70%/mm at the first wavelengths.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the transmittance of the bulk is less than 0.01%/mm at the first wavelengths.

13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising ion exchanging the glass-ceramic article in a bath comprising sodium nitrate and/or potassium nitrate between a temperature of 360 and 450° C. for between 0.25 and 25 hours, the aperture having a retained transmittance of at least 50%/mm at the first wavelengths after the ion exchanging.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (141)