Significance   As an efficient non-contact processing method, laser processing is an ideal processing method for super-hard brittle materials such as diamond. The high-energy laser ablation of diamond greatly improves the processing efficiency of diamond, and the ultra-fast laser processing of diamond ensures the processing accuracy to the greatest extent. At present, laser is widely used in diamond cutting, lapping, micro-grooves and other aspects. Clear diamond laser interaction mechanism and processing control mechanism for laser processing diamond industrial investment laid a foundation. Due to the limitations of traditional machining methods, laser processing methods at home and abroad are the focus of research and development technology. It is foreseeable that laser processing in the field of diamond processing will have a larger proportion, which is of great significance for the back-end application and assembly of diamond.

  Progress  Firstly, the laser generation mode and laser processing mechanism are introduced, including laser generation and main characteristics, how the diamond absorbs laser energy, and the changes of diamond properties and surface morphology caused by the laser. At present, the main research is nanosecond laser and femtosecond laser, which are currently two typical types of laser used for diamond processing, according to the laser wavelength division commonly used a green laser (532 nm), near infrared laser (1064 nm) and ultraviolet laser. Pulsed laser is the focus of current research, for diamond processing, short wavelength and small pulse duration processing quality is higher, while longer pulse duration pulsed laser processing efficiency is higher. With the development of technology, laser processing systems in various countries are developing in a more compatible direction, that is, to achieve good processing quality and high removal efficiency at the same time.

Countries have successfully carried out a number of technical studies in the field of laser diamond processing, which has been widely used in production. According to the investigation and development, the pulse width length of the laser has a decisive impact on the processing effect. For the different processing types of diamond, the multi-method joint processing method is currently used to meet the specific requirements of various tasks. For the actual processing needs of diamond, mainly including laser cutting, laser drilling, laser micro-grooves and lapping and other related fields. According to different processing types, the development status and technical highlights of laser diamond processing in recent years are summarized (Tab. 4). Through comprehensive investigation, the future development trend and common technical means of laser diamond processing are revealed.　　Laser diamond processing is one of the current mainstream processing methods, and compared with traditional machining methods, laser processing technology can achieve automation, low-cost, high-precision, and can obtain more accurate processing effects. At the end of this paper, the application prospect of laser diamond processing is prospected in order to provide reference for the development and research of domestic super-hard material processing technology.

  Conclusions and Prospects  The field of laser diamond processing is still booming. At the same time, diamond processing needs are complex and diverse. For different processing types and application requirements, the type of laser used, the mode of processing operation and the selection of processing parameters need to be analyzed in detail according to each case. The research progress of laser diamond processing industry in recent years is summarized in order to provide some reference for the design and optimization of laser diamond processing in the future. Laser processing technology will also be more mature to meet a variety of processing needs, and gradually to high efficiency, high precision, low damage, highly integrated and production automation. In the foreseeable future, the application prospect of laser processing diamond will be more and more broad.