By Normand Lemieux on May 30, 2017
Industrial Lasers
In Fiber Laser: The State of the Art, Jeff Hecht from Laser Focus World describes the main components of fiber lasers. He then goes on with describing their features and configuration. He finishes with a list of several novel and some more established laser applications.
Fiber lasers are compact and rugged, don't go out of alignment, and easily dissipate thermal energy. They come in many forms, sharing technology with other type of lasers but providing their own unique advantages.
Jeff Hecht - Fiber lasers: The state of the art
High Power Pulsed Fiber Laser
Fiber lasers systems are fairly common in the industrial world. We encounter them in the automotive industry where they are used for cutting and welding thick and hard metal sheets. The fiber delivery of the laser beam makes them well suited for heavy duty industrial applications executed by robots.
Pulsed lasers have been used to drill holes in concrete to reinforce existing building with new rebar, which makes the buildings more resilient to earthquakes. Fiber laser are good at this because they can pierce holes in friable materials without the vibrations generated by traditional techniques. This makes their use particularly interesting when structures have already been enfeebled.
Femtosecond Pulsed Fiber Lasers
Femtosecond pulsed fiber laser systems are currently used in several medical applications. They can also be used to create femtosecond frequency combs which could in turn be used, in a foreseeable future, in GPS clocks to improve their resolution. For example an application like this would make automated tractors a reality.
Low Power Pulsed Fiber Laser
Fiber lasers are also found in LiDAR systems. These systems are used in self-driving cars to measure distances. They can also be used for surveying land and a wealth of other scientific endeavors.
Figure 2 - LiDAR system used to measure air quality**
Low power pulsed fiber lasers can be used for micro and nanoscale machining. When properly set these lasers will leave the machined surface free of any artifacts.
Laserax Laser Marking and Laser Cleaning Systems
Laserax has been improving low powered pulsed lasers for applications such as laser marking and laser cleaning. For more information on the principle behind undutrial laser operation check this blog post.
If you have an application that might benefit from the use of lasers, we’d be glad to discuss how our products might meet your requirements.
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