Table of Contents
Reliability and Core Advantages
Single-mode fiber lasers possess a reliability that is unmatched by conventional solid-state and gas lasers. Selectivity of operating wavelengths, ultra-low amplitude noise, high stability, and ultra-long pump diode lifetime complete an impressive list of such fiber laser systems.
Types of Fiber Lasers
Single-Mode Fiber Lasers. Single-mode fiber lasers are typically delivered via fiber, with a core diameter of fewer than 25 microns, producing a narrow, high-intensity beam that can be focused down to a spot size as small as 20 microns. This high-intensity and a small spot are ideally suited for fine laser marking, micromachining, and cutting applications.
Multi-Mode Fiber Lasers. Multi-mode fiber lasers use fibers with core diameters greater than 25 microns, resulting in a lower intensity beam and larger focused spot sizes.
Importance of Beam Quality
Fiber lasers produce a high-quality beam, so the differences between different types of such lasers may appear small, but they are huge in processing terms. There are a number of key laser parameters that define a fiber laser processing capability, including peak power, frequency range, pulse width, and beam quality.
Processing Benefits
Beam quality may not be the most familiar parameter, but it has a significant impact and should be considered much more closely than it has been in the past. The high beam quality is a parameter that can be found in single-mode fiber lasers. A laser with better beam quality can remove material much faster, with better resolution, and improved quality.
Applications of Single-Mode Fiber Lasers
Single-mode fiber lasers have gained a sharp rise in acceptance on a large variety of welding applications, including batteries, medical assemblies, fuel cells, wire welding, and the like. The optimization of such lasers is high-speed: single-mode fiber lasers can operate in a continuous mode or a modulated mode with no spot size change over the 10%-105% dynamic operating range.
Cutting and Welding Applications
The low divergence allows for long marking distances that make focus control very forgiving and repeatable. On cutting applications, single-mode fiber lasers are utilized for precise cutting of very delicate structures such as stents, silicon wafers, surgical knives, as well as thicker materials at the higher power levels.
Marking and Micromachining
Single-mode fiber lasers provide excellent mark resolution and can achieve the mark size and quality normally associated with 532 nm lasers and 355 nm lasers. In addition to this, using single-mode fiber lasers for micromachining can be a cost-effective alternative to more costly micromachining technologies, including sinker electrical discharge machining equipment or 532- and 355-nm lasers.