Industrial High Power Laser Material Processing

From cutting steel, to drilling via holes in silicon, to marking plastic, a whole range of material processes now make use of the laser to produce results not previously practical.

However, the ever-growing demands for efficient productivity require that the laser process be stable and predictable. Just like any tool used in precision manufacturing, the industrial laser needs to be monitored so that peak performance can be maintained. Detecting a drop in some predefined laser parameter, for example, can then be used to trigger a call for preventive maintenance, can save a lot of money - especially when compared to the cost of downtime and scrapped parts. Proper monitoring of correctly defined laser parameters can also enable process control, so that a drifting parameter can be automatically corrected and the process kept within its specified envelope – ideally without interruption.

To ensure a consistent process over time, the relevant parameters must be measured as a function of time to control performance. The parameters that need to be watched depend on the application, as does the question of how often the watched parameters need to be sampled.

• Average power: Ophir offers sensors for measuring powers up to 120 kilowatts (and down to as low as femtowatts). Various power sensor technologies and absorber types are available, each optimized for specific sets of conditions.

• Pulse energy: Energy sensors are available for measuring single shot pulse energies up to several kilojoules, and repetitive pulse energies of many tens of joules, at repetition rates up to tens of KHz.

• Beam analysis: A wide range of laser beam profiling solutions and accessories are available, both camera based and scanning slit based, for whatever your beam might be throwing at you. Ophir also offers a unique instrument for analyzing focal spot and beam waist without any physical contact with the beam, enabling you to analyze beams with no upper limit on power.

• A complete stand-alone instrument, such as a power meter and sensor on a laboratory optical bench
• Simple sensor elements with raw analog output
• Customized sensors with built-in communications interface, for when a measurement solution needs to be integrated inside a host system
• Complete customized solutions, tailored to your exact needs

Ophir’s 40+ years of experience can give you the confidence to focus on your process, knowing that the tools you depend on will deliver the goods.

1 µm lasers are lasers that operate at the 1 µm wavelength. These lasers can be used for a wide range of different processes; welding, cutting, localized heating, and more. They provide a high amount of power and extreme accuracy.

In order to get the best results from a 1 µm laser, the laser system must be built using high quality, specialized optical components, designed to work effectively at high laser power and power density levels. These optics must have minimal absorption and reflection losses, to avoid impairing the performance of the laser system, or damaging it, through increased temperature.

Using decades of experience, advanced manufacturing techniques, and cutting-edge optical coating technologies, Ophir’s line of 1 μm laser optics for high power fiber and solid-state lasers meet these requirements.

Ophir’s products for 1 µm lasers include protective windows, spherical and aspherical lenses, lens assemblies for collimating and focusing laser beams, as well as zoom lenses for laser cutting heads. Optical lenses for 1 µm lasers are made from fused silica, with specialized AR coatings that have the lowest possible absorption and reflection losses, to ensure the best high power laser performance.

CO₂ lasers have been used for many applications over the years, and are being manufactured with increasingly higher power levels to support materials processing applications, such as lithography and cutting sheet metal.

The ability to create higher power CO₂ lasers has been dependent on the development of advanced, high quality optical components. Ophir manufactures focusing lenses and mirrors designed to fill this need.

One critical aspect of CO₂ laser optical components is the lens coatings used. The coatings must be able to protect the lens, providing low absorbency, high performance, and a long lifetime. For HeNE lasers, the coating must be transparent, yet still have low absorbency. Radioactivity is also a concern, with many choosing radioactive-free coatings for environmental reasons.

Ophir provides a range of Optics for CO₂ lasers, each with slightly different benefits in terms of absorption, transparency, lack of radioactivity, and product lifetime.