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Frequently Asked Questions About The Types Of Laser Markers

Which laser source should I choose to mark my material?

The laser source determines the wavelength of the laser, and some wavelengths are better at marking certain materials. Even if a laser is not perfect for your material, it can still be the best choice for your application for considerations like maintenance and speed. For this reason, it is essential to discuss your application with a laser expert.

Here is a brief overview of each type of laser and the materials they can mark.

• Fiber lasers (≈1,070 nm) are ideal for metal marking, including for steel, aluminum, magnesium, lead, and zinc. They can also be used to mark other materials, including rubber and copper.
• CO2 lasers (≈10,600 nm) can mark carbon-based materials like plastics, wood, and cardboard. They can also leave non permanent marks on metals if a marking spray is applied on the surface beforehand.
• Blue lasers (≈450 nm) and green lasers (≈532 nm) are especially good at marking materials like copper and gold.
• UV lasers (≈355 nm) can mark a wide variety of materials, including glass, polycarbonate, silver, aluminum, and copper.

Which type of laser is ideal for industrial laser marking?

Fiber lasers are by far the best type of lasers for industrial laser marking because of their high speed, low maintenance, good heat management, low energy consumption, and ease of automation. 

What’s the difference between laser diodes and DPSS lasers?

Blue, green, and UV lasers are available as laser diodes or DPSS lasers.

Laser diodes emit laser light of the chosen color directly, but they quickly lose in precision as laser power increases. This limits their usefulness in production environments requiring speed.

DPSS lasers use methods called frequency doubling (for blue and green lasers) or frequency tripling (for UV lasers). As a consequence of frequency conversion, DPSS lasers generate high internal heat that is difficult to extract. This puts a limit on the available laser power as well as on the laser’s potential uptime.

What are the benefits of UV laser marking?

The most significant advantages of UV lasers for marking applications are:  

• Cold marking technology: UV lasers can successfully achieve damage-free marking on many materials without requiring high average powers.  
• High precision: Our UV laser marking solutions can achieve fine details with spot sizes as small as 7 µm and can even mark on the fly (MOTF).
• Versatile material compatibility: Our UV laser marking solutions can ablate and engrave a broad range of materials, including wires, metals, sapphire, glass, diamond, polyamides, PCBs, coatings, silicon wafers, ceramics, plastics, fiber, paper and polyimides.
• Permanent & high-contrast marks: UV laser markers can ensure consistent readability for barcodes, serial numbers, logos, and text.
• Fast & consumable-free: Like fiber laser marking, UV laser marking is a fast, contact-free process that does not require consumables like ink or chemicals.  

Are CO2 lasers adapted to industrial laser marking?

 Due to their optical configuration, CO2 lasers are sensitive to mechanical vibrations, which can cause them to become misaligned. This makes CO2 lasers harder to automate for many applications.

In terms of maintenance, CO2 lasers require frequent optical realignments. Some of their components (mirrors, lenses, and windows) degrade with use and need to be replaced.