{"id":10167,"date":"2020-12-09T11:00:18","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ophiropt.com\/blog\/laser-measurement\/?p=10167"},"modified":"2024-02-29T15:08:51","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T15:08:51","slug":"overcoming-the-challenges-of-measuring-high-power-nir-lasers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ophiropt.com\/blog\/overcoming-the-challenges-of-measuring-high-power-nir-lasers\/","title":{"rendered":"Overcoming the Challenges of Measuring High Power NIR Lasers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

High power laser applications<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

High power laser application<\/a> has significantly increased in recent years due to new production techniques that enable cheaper manufacturing and operating costs.  Applications of high-power lasers that seemed exotic a few years ago are now considered routine in material processing and micromachining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such material processing applications<\/a> as welding, cutting, additive manufacturing<\/a>, marking, and engraving are now performed using lasers, enabling higher precision, faster rates, and increased variability. In addition to the material processing industry, increased use of high-power lasers is also seen in military and research applications. .\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, high power lasers were CO2<\/sub> pumped lasers. Recent developments and market requirements for more accurate processing have turned NIR fiber lasers into a rapidly growing player in all high-power applications, including processing, research<\/a>, and military<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Types of high power lasers<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Lasers are considered \u201chigh power\u201d if their output is in the range of hundreds of watts to tens of KW. The vast majority of material processing lasers are 1070 nm fiber lasers, and rarely green 535nm fiber. CO2 lasers are still popular in some types of material processing, but these are being phased out in favor of fiber lasers. Ultrafast lasers (with picosecond and\/or femtosecond pulse widths) are also starting to be employed for finesse material processing operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmost common types of high-power CW fiber lasers have output powers\nranging from 1 kW single mode to over 100 kW multi-mode. Their\nreliability, flexibility, and wide variety of interchanging fiber terminations,\ncollimation optics, and processing heads (with both Gaussian and Top Hat beam\nshapes) make fiber lasers most suitable for the material processing industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Importantly, the variety of applications and\nproduction rates require periodic checkups or constant tracking of parameters,\nto ensure process control and quality assurance. Parameters to be tracked\ninclude:<\/p>\n\n\n\n