Category: Applications of Fiber Lasers

High precision of powerful fiber lasers for welding

Importance of precision in high-power welding

High-power fiber laser systems that are necessary for welding of sheet metal, tubes, copper, and aluminum in heavy industries also require a high level of accuracy to avoid defects. That is why operators have a greater responsibility to provide this power with precision, and the development of laser system technologies remains important.

At the present time, there are numerous improvements in laser systems that allow solving the mentioned problem. For example, the high precision of a laser beam can be offered by laser power distribution to the inner and outer cores of a two-in-one fiber to provide the ideal join.

Programmable beam adjustment and monitoring

Also, some companies suggest employing programmable adjustment of the output beam mode and monitoring technology for the welding process. This improvement in laser technologies makes real-time feedback possible for significant processing characteristics.

Beam modes and material efficiency

The achievement of an accurate laser beam can be made through numerous beam modes to enhance the efficiency of coated steels, aluminum, and dissimilar materials. New fiber laser systems with continuous wave and quasi-continuous wave options offer more accuracy than conventional lasers.

Applications in industry

Fiber laser technology has multiple applications in the automotive, e-mobility, and electronics industries, and today it attracts more attention than before due to fiber lasers’ ability to weld in a short period and at the highest quality by tuning the intensity allocation of laser systems.

Two-in-one fiber technology

The new laser system includes a two-in-one fiber that consists of two fiber cores located coaxially. Each fiber core can be programmed to create a percentage of the laser’s power, for example, 40% to the inner fiber core and 60% to the outer core. In addition, the level of power tuning can achieve 1 percent precision in such a fiber laser.

Advantages of the new fiber laser system

The main advantages of the fiber laser system include spatter-free laser power allocation, which dramatically accelerates the process, and a changeable two-in-one fiber that can be quickly replaced by a new fiber in case of its damage, because these fibers are standard for fiber laser systems.

Comparison with CO2 lasers

Traditionally, CO2 lasers are used for welding processes in heavy industries because of their speed a level of quality. The new solid-state fiber laser system opens new possibilities for the industry because it allows welding stainless steel sheets and also tubes and profiles with a very high feed rate at good quality, almost without spatter.

Early detection of natural disasters by laser systems

Natural disasters are considered to be horrifying because they often cause numerous deaths, which is why researchers all around the world look for ways of preventing or preparing for the events. A group of scientists from the USA developed a new early-detecting system that is potentially able to forecast various natural disasters by using laser system technology.

Preliminary tests and capabilities of laser systems

Despite the fact that this laser system is still in the preliminary phase, it was tested, and the system based on laser technology predicted a tornado appearing half an hour before. Another laser application of the system is the data collection about earthquakes, which consequently leads to better constructions.
The laser system enables to measurement of volcanic eruptions and hurricanes appearing in remote areas that might influence air traffic. The laser technology’s ability for early detection may allow reducing the damage from natural disasters because building codes often disregard the ground rotation effects.

How the ring laser interferometer works

The operation of the laser system is based on the use of a ringed laser interferometer, where a laser beam of high quality is split into two parts that enable identification of sources of infrasound (both atmospheric and geological). A plasma tube in the ring fiber laser produces a laser beam in both a clockwise and counterclockwise direction.
In the case of a clockwise rotation of the laser system cavity, more time for a photon to move is required to overcome the circumference of the cavity. Otherwise, less time is necessary, but the speed of light produced by a laser beam remains constant. Also, the combination of the clockwise and counterclockwise laser beams produces a ‘beat note’ that is proportional to the rotation of the Earth. A horizontal ring laser system installed away from the equator will carry out the measurements of its rotation.

Applications for tornadoes, hurricanes, and volcanoes

Besides tornado early detection, ring laser systems are also able to identify infrasound from hurricanes and volcanoes. The ash from volcanic eruptions may destroy jet engines, which is why the possibility of laser system technology to identify volcanic eruptions in relatively remote places like the Aleutian Islands could ensure the safety of commercial aircraft that periodically fly over the region.

Laser system technology identifies trace chemicals in the air

Breakthrough in laser-based chemical detection

A team of researchers from the USA designed a novel laser-based technique that allows the identification of electric charges and chemicals of interest with unprecedented sensitivity. This laser technology may have a potential application for scanning vast areas for radioactive material or dangerous chemicals for safety and security purposes.

This laser technique, called mid-infrared picosecond laser-driven electron avalanche, registers very low charge densities (the number of electric charges in a specific volume) in the air or other gases. The laser system technology makes it possible to measure electron densities in the air created by a radioactive source at levels below one part per quadrillion, which is equal to picking out one free electron from a conventional air molecule.

Calibration and detection range

The principle of operation is based on the use of a method enabling calibration of laser systems applied to examine irradiated air from 1 meter away. The researchers confirm that this laser technology could be used to identify other chemicals and species and could be improved for remote detection at distances of 10 meters and even 100 meters.

The process of electron avalanche

The laser system technique uses a process of electron avalanche, in which a laser beam accelerates a single free electron in a gas until it achieves enough energy to knock a different electron off a molecule, resulting in a second free electron. Also, the electron avalanche process repeats and converts into a collisional cascade that grows exponentially until the appearance of a bright observable spark in the laser beam focus.

Novelty of the mid-IR picosecond laser approach

Despite the fact that the method of laser-driven electron avalanche is not new, however, this is a new kind of high-energy, long-wavelength laser system — a picosecond mid-IR laser that is able to detect localized collisional cascades seeded only by the initial free electrons. It is possible to generate the original free electrons seeding the avalanches directly by laser protons when shorter wavelength laser beam pulses are applied.

Advantages over traditional detectors

This laser system technology overcomes conventional Geiger counters and scintillators, traditional detectors of radioactive decay products, because it resolves the problems of signal dropping at distances far from the radioactive source. Nonetheless, a laser beam allows researchers to remotely examine electrons created in the air near the source.

Future applications and improvements

Also, the researchers affirm that potential applications of the laser technique include the measurement of ultra-low charge densities from such sources as strong field physics interactions or chemical species. The presented laser technology is not ideal and requires improvements to make the technique more practical for use in the field.

Laser systems offer new data concerning Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia

Brain disorders and parvalbumin cells

Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia are considered to be the most common brain disorders, which are the result of problems in cells containing parvalbumin protein that represent almost one-tenth of all brain cells, but relatively little is known about their operation. Researchers from the USA have started to study the principle of cell operation by stimulating mouse brains with laser systems.

Custom-built fiber laser for brain research

A custom-built laser system has allowed the researchers from Washington University to find the connection among activity in specific inhibitory neural circuits, cerebral blood flow, and volume. Fiber laser demonstrated that higher activity, in particular inhibitory neural circuits, decreases cerebral blood flow and volume, while excitatory activity evokes blood flow and volume to increase.

Unexpected findings in blood flow and volume

The researchers discovered unexpected changes in blood volume and flow during stimulation of cells, including parvalbumin protein. The used laser technology is based on specially bred mice whose brains are stimulated with laser beam pulses.

Optogenetics technology and its advantages

The method of brain stimulation with light signals from the laser module, called optogenetics, has enlarged the understanding of brain operation as well as the brain processes of fear, sense of smell, and even the reason for drug addiction.

Mechanism of fiber laser stimulation

Optogenetics technology with a fiber laser system is convenient, less invasive, repeatable, and easy to use because this technique does not require putting any probes into the mouse brain. The principle of laser technology operation is quite simple; the researchers hit the necessary area of the mouse brain with the red colored laser beam, therefore, a desired neural circuit is activated.

Blood and oxygen response in neural circuits

More neurons are stimulated, and more blood and oxygen are produced. At the same time, the use of the laser system enabled to finding of the opposite response during the stimulation of parvalbumin-expressing cells. This connection between activity in specific neural populations and local changes in blood flow plays a crucial role in the regulation of blood supply by the brain.

Laser speckle contrasting imaging and measurements

The fiber laser technology reveals that parvalbumin-expressing cells are able to pull back and fine-tune the blood supply in areas where they are activated. A separate laser system technology, called laser speckle contrasting imaging, allowed researchers to measure the exact blood and oxygen levels that significantly reduced when parvalbumin cells were excited.

Long-range communication of parvalbumin cells

Parvalbumin cells were the way to transmit messages to faraway parts of the brain to change their hemodynamics, or blood flow, as well. In fact, the information obtained by the laser system will provide a better understanding of parvalbumin’s role in neurovascular coupling, demonstrating its influence on brain development or the emergence of neurological disorders.

A potential application of laser systems

Current medical applications of laser systems

The use of laser systems in medicine is not a new field of application; they are generally employed for the diagnosis of different diseases, in burn scar treatment, bioimaging, dental science, and various surgical procedures. Laser applications are not limited, and they continue to develop.

New research made by a group of scientists from the USA demonstrates that laser systems are able to make fluid containing blood cells act as an optical fiber cable under certain conditions, enabling to save the laser beam focus to be saved and make it shine through freely.

Potential diagnostic applications

Fiber laser systems can find new applications in medical diagnostic techniques that use the advantages of blood cell properties. These laser systems can be used for noninvasive imaging through the tissue, and the condition of the laser beam is able to provide deep penetration.

The application of laser systems for medical imaging, where getting light from the laser beam to support its shape and power over a distance plays a crucial role in making a precise diagnosis, is highly promising today, all over the world.

Experimental demonstration

The group of scientists experiments to prove their suggestions. They use a green laser system, shine its laser beam into a 3-cm-long vial filled with a suspension of human red blood cells. At the moment, when the laser power is increased, more light passes through the vial.

Use of optical tweezers in experiments

At the next level, the scientists employ a special device called an optical tweezer that allows them to measure the optical forces acting on individual blood cells. Due to advanced technologies, it is possible to demonstrate the principle of laser system operation that is based on the fiber laser that attracts cells into the laser beam and pushes them along the beam’s path.

Mechanism of laser focusing by blood cells

The principle of operation resembles the way that a lens focuses light by changing its path, while blood cells focus the laser beam and help it to penetrate deeper into the blood. Consequently, it is similar to an optical fiber cable that sends the light in a single direction.

Dependence on blood cell shape

This effect depends on the shape of blood cells. Red cells have the shape of a disc; however, they may shrivel or swell depending on the amount of salt. This laser system can find a potential application in diagnosing diseases such as sickle cell anemia and malaria.

Future improvements and potential

This research requires numerous improvements before it can be applied in a medical context. For example, it is necessary to optimize the high-quality laser beam for use in human tissues. At the same time, the laser system will be highly helpful in medical diagnostics and open new possibilities in deep-tissue imaging.

Improved tunable fiber lasers for communications and scientific purposes

New design of improved tunable fiber lasers

New, improved tunable fiber lasers consist of the waveguides and filter components, a spot-size converter, and the on-chip tunable laser gain module that is installed at the semiconductor optical amplifier. The development of this laser system is considered to reduce the cost of the tunable fiber lasers by decreasing the number of the laser system’s components and making their assembly less complex.

Potential applications of tunable fiber lasers

The developed tunable laser system may become a solution for next-generation low-cost coherent transceivers. These fiber lasers are compact and can expand opportunities in emerging fields of laser application, such as lidar for autonomous vehicles and on-chip optical coherence tomography for biomedical sensing processes, in addition to the optical fiber area.

Tunable fiber lasers: challenges

Although tunable fiber lasers offer such benefits as cost- and space-efficiency for various applications, they face several challenges. The laser systems‘ light emission produced by a laser beam remains still not straightforward because of silicon’s indirect bandgap. It is possible to produce a more ‘pure’ laser beam light by increasing the silicon cavity length, but the propagation loss of a silicon waveguide is much higher than that of free-space optics and other material waveguides. Thus, the making of a long silica cavity in the tunable laser systems is considered to be impractical. The cavities of the fiber laser system are very sensitive to any thermal disturbance because silicon material has a relatively large thermo-optic coefficient. Therefore, it becomes very difficult to design a tunable fiber laser that offers a high-frequency precision of <1 GHz.

Recent improvements in tunable fiber lasers

Several improvements in the laser system’s components have been made to overcome the current limitations. The tunable fiber laser includes a laser gain chip directly butt-coupled to a ring-resonator-based filter chip, as well as two cascaded ring filters to provide lasing mode selection over a large spectral range through the Vernier effect.
A more powerful semiconductor optical amplifier has been designed to increase the output power in the fiber laser system. All the construction is packaged in a compact golf box to meet the requirements for laser applications in optical fiber communications.

Benefits of the new tunable fiber laser design

The manufacturers also confirm that it is now possible to install this laser module into compact coherent transceivers. The new design of the tunable lasers allows not only solving the problems but creating additional benefits such as the compensation of the large coupling and propagation loss of the integrated silicon waveguides by the amplifier, the production of relatively “pure” laser beam light, the reduction of optical power on the silicon chip and the opportunity to control the laser system output power through the amplification of the semiconductor optical amplifier.

Laser system cutting: full information

History of laser cutting technology

Laser system cutting is considered to be an industrial laser technology that is used in numerous fields. The first laser beams were introduced in 1960 when the physicist Theodore Maiman employed a synthetic ruby crystal to create the prototype that allowed making a straight laser beam. The technology of laser cutting was presented only in 1963 by the electrical engineer Kumar Patel, who used a CO2 laser, due to which laser system cutting became cheaper and more efficient.

The development of laser technology enables the mining industry to give laser systems a practical application; some laser modules are able to cut a 1-mm-thick steel sheet. CO2 laser systems are a common laser cutting device for cutting and engraving materials such as cardboard, plywood, MDF, or acrylic etc.

Laser cutting vs. laser engraving

The fact is that the processes of laser system cutting and engraving are both subtractive manufacturing techniques. A solid object is used in the process, and then the material is removed by the laser beam in order to produce a required image. These two laser technologies are not identical and have a distinction. A laser beam during laser system cutting hits the surface of a material and heats it up until it melts or vaporizes completely to leave a clean cut. The process of engraving by a CO2 laser is similar to cutting; the intensity of the laser beam is lower, and it only leaves a mark on the material’s surface rather than cutting it.

Key benefits of laser system cutting

Even though other technologies allow achieving similar results, laser system cutting offers the following benefits over other cutting techniques that include:

high level of accuracy results in engraving more detailed images and cleaner cuts.
high production speed;
wide variety of materials that can be cut by the laser system without any damage;
high accessibility compared to other techniques;
the opportunity of laser application with any vector software;
no wastes such as sawdust;
laser technology for cutting purposes is very safe and reliable with the right equipment.

Laser system cutting is not yet ideal and needs some improvements to overcome other similar techniques.

LIDAR laser systems for autonomous driving

Application of LIDAR in autonomous vehicles

High-performance laser system technology that enables the operation of light detection and ranging systems (LIDAR) has become a standard resource for the advancement of self-driving vehicles. The LIDAR technique relies on infrared laser systems, enabling autonomous vehicles to navigate by creating a real-time, 3D representation of their surroundings.

How LIDAR laser systems work

The laser technology includes the combination of pulsed fiber laser and single-pixel sensors or high-powered laser system flash illumination, applying the time of flight cameras to create the required 3D images. The laser system can carry out the travel time measurement of the light produced by a laser beam from the autonomous vehicle to the target and back to the vehicle.

Advantages of laser technology for LIDAR

This laser system technology offers a highly attractive benefit for LIDAR manufacturers, that is, increased laser system power, resulting in the opportunity for 3D maps to capture more objects and scenery from longer distances. The most important thing is eye safety, which is why short pulses produced by the laser beam play a crucial role.

Rapid pulsing (for example, more than 1 million times per second), more data points, and better signal quality are presented since the fast rise and fall times are essential.

Recent developments in LIDAR lasers

The recent development has the target to transmit LIDAR power emitted by the laser beam of 120W per channel “in a four-channel SMT package delivering >480W peak power with approximately 2 ns full-width half maximum (FWHM) pulses and <1 ns rise and fall times”.

Laser wavelengths used in LIDAR

LIDAR technology employs two primary wavelengths in laser systems: 905 and 1550 nm, each with its advantages. For example, a CMOS or other silicon detector can identify a 905 nm laser beam; the cost becomes lower, and the complexity is reduced. Laser systems at 1550 nm can be detected by silicon photomultipliers and, eventually, by indium gallium arsenide detectors; however, they present problems at the 105°C temperature required for automotive qualification, as well as challenges for eye safety.

Role of multichannel laser systems

Multichannel laser systems are necessary because the application of eight laser modules in individual firing will provide 1% resolution or 15 cm steps, whereas the minimum amplitude and dynamic range is virtually 18 dB when applying a 1 ns time of flight. In fact, based on the mentioned advantages, it is better to use 05 nm multichannel high-power lidar laser systems with nanosecond pulses.

Hybridized mode for reliability

There is an opinion that the presented laser technology should have a hybridized mode including short transmitted pulses with a slightly longer duration receiver “window”, resulting in a more reliable laser system. The main obstacle of LIDAR technology was overcome due to the opportunity to transmit shorter pulses that allowed for optimal eye safety, thermal management, and consequently, high resolution.

Laser technology in dermatology

Advancement of dermatology with lasers

Laser technology has greatly advanced dermatology area resulting in strong help for practitioners that offer the best medical treatment for unique conditions, providing greater efficiency and safety. Laser system technology has promoted dermatology over the last few years, the development of laser systems and pulsed laser beam lights allows making the effective and safe treatment of different conditions like vascular and pigmented lesions, tattoos, scars, and so on.

Therapeutic applications of laser systems

Even though artificial laser beam light sources have been used for various skin disease treatments for a long time, the development of laser systems makes their application viable in therapeutics. The laser systems in dermatology allow carrying out reliable therapeutic applications in cosmetic rejuvenation and other conditions. The demand for popular laser technologies results in the development of improved laser systems with better features.

Surgical laser systems in dermatology

Surgical laser systems (especially CO2 lasers) are considered to be the most efficient in the dermatology area because of such features as precise wavelength, variable nature, and duration of output, making this type of laser suitable for the medical treatment of a wide range of skin and mucosal diseases.

For example, dye lasers offer numerous benefits for the treatment of such conditions as facial telangiectasias, spider veins, pyogenic granulomas, rosacea, and cutaneous vascular ectasia.

Principles of laser operation

The development of laser technologies makes surgery to carry out the controlled termination of the cutaneous target with minimal injury to the surrounding tissue. The principle of laser system operation is based on the maintenance of an appropriate wavelength during the laser treatment for preferential absorption by the required tissue. Moreover, the pulse duration of the laser beam should be shorter than the relaxation time of the target molecules.

Parameters for dermatological treatment

The choice of laser systems and pulsed laser beam light systems for dermatological treatment is based on the following parameters:

Continuous-wave or CW fiber lasers are suitable for nonselective tissue damage due to the production of continuous laser beams.
Compared to the previous one, Quasi-CW mode laser systems create interrupted emissions of light energy by shuttering the laser beam into shorter intervals.
Intense pulse light lasers enable to treatment of vascular lesions due to their ability to target intravascular oxyhemoglobin.

These laser systems as pulsed dye laser, potassium titanyl phosphate, alexandrite, neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet, and diode lasers, can be used for the reliable treatment of small and large blood vessels.

High powered fiber lasers reduce critical blood incubation time

Introduction to the technology

A team of researchers from Australia developed a technology based on high-powered fiber lasers that is considered to be the first of its kind, resulting in the opportunity of pretransfusion testing out of the pathology lab and into point of care. The new fiber laser technology allows for improving pretransfusion testing; this fiber laser reduces blood incubation time from today’s standard of five minutes to 40 seconds.

The process of blood transfusion plays a critical role in numerous hematological conditions such as cancer, bleeding trauma, childbirth, and major surgery. The new fiber laser system enables the prevention of fatal blood transfusions for critically ill patients, even in the case of mass trauma. Additionally, high-powered fiber lasers are able to determine fetus-killing antibodies in pregnant women.

Effectiveness in critical situations

The fiber laser technology can be especially effective when such factors as time and precision are vital, for instance, in critical and emergency events like mass trauma, where it is necessary to perform pretransfusion testing quickly in order to save lives. Compared to high-powered fiber lasers, the traditional incubation technique requires more time, resulting in a remarkable effect on the survival chance of a patient.

Operating principle of the fiber laser system

The operating principle of the developed fiber laser system is based on “the laser incubation model in which a targeted illumination of a blood-antibody sample in a diagnostic gel card is converted into heat by way of photothermal absorption”. The high-powered fiber laser can heat he 75-μL blood-antibody sample to 37 °C in under 30 seconds.

Photothermal effects and rapid testing

The near-infrared fiber laser incubation demonstrates that red blood cells act as photothermal agents, causing fast antigen-antibody binding with no considerable damage to the cells or antibodies for up to 15 minutes. Therefore, the technology based on high-powered fiber lasers performs immunohematological testing faster and more sensitively than current best techniques; clearly positive results are shown from incubations of just 40 seconds.

Applications in pregnancy and antibody testing

The fiber laser system helps to discover the role of incubation time and temperature of the IgG anti-D antibody and the Rh blood group system’s D antigen. These antibodies are responsible for the hemolytic disease when the mother’s and baby’s blood types are incompatible. Precise testing by high-powered fiber lasers for pregnant women’s antibodies is highly important to save the fetus or newborn.