About Industrial Lasers and Industrial Laser Manufacturers Including: CO2 Lasers, Diode
Lasers, Excimer
Lasers, Medical
Lasers, ND YAG Lasers & YAG
Lasers.
Industrial lasers and diode lasers are designed to
concentrate very high amounts of energy into a small defined point in
order to heat, melt or vaporize any material within that defined point.
Since the laser dot is miniscule, only a small zone outside
of the focus area is heated or deformed. Industrial lasers have
a high stability output and will operate reliably over the long-term, requiring minimal service. Industrial laser manufacturers provide dependable solutions for high-duty cycle/continuous-use applications. Depending on the repetition
rate, industrial lasers can operate continuously for hundreds or even
thousands of hours.
All lasers consist of an optical cavity, a lasing medium and a pumping
system. The optical cavity contains the media, which is the source of
the laser light, and the mirrors that excite the media and direct the
produced photons back along the same general path. The laser medium can
be a solid, a gas (e.g. argon), liquid dye or semiconductors, as is the
case in diode lasers. Pumping systems transfer energy to the media in
three basic ways. In optical pumping, the system utilizes photons from
another source, such as a xenon gas flash tube. Collision pumping transfers
energy using an electrical discharge within the pure gas or gas mixture
media. Pumping systems may also rely on the binding energy released in
chemical reactions in order to raise the media to the lasing state. While all industrial laser manufacturers combine these three components, their products can differ greatly in their size, output, beam quality, power consumption and operating life.
Lasers are demarcated according to the lasing media that they employ.
Solid-state lasers - such as neodymium-yttrium aluminum garnet
lasers, also denoted as ND-YAG
lasers or simply YAG
lasers-have
lasing material distributed in a solid state. The most common gas lasers
use helium, helium-neon, HeNe and CO2
lasers. CO2 and YAG lasers are
used for deep
cutting and welding applications. Excimer
lasers use a mixture of
reactive gases, such as chlorine and fluorine, and inert gases (e.g.
argon, krypton or xenon). Dye lasers have the ability to be tuned over
a wide range of wavelengths. They make use of complex organic dyes in
liquid solution or suspension as a lasing medium. Semiconductor lasers,
also call diode lasers, are typically small, electronic devices that
use low power. They may be built into larger arrays for use in applications,
such as the writing source in laser printers or CD players.
Exposure to lasers can cause severe damage. Lasers are divided into six
classes, according to their power output: Class I, Class I.A, Class II,
Class IIIA, Class IIIB and Class IV. Industrial laser manufacturers are required to build in engineering controls in laser systems to provide safety. All lasers, no matter what
their power, must have an enclosure around them that limits access to
the laser beam or radiation. Class IV systems contain the most dangerous
lasers and require a master switch that, when disabled, prohibits all
but authorized personnel from operating the laser. A beam stop or attenuator,
which significantly reduces beam emission when the laser is on standby,
is permanently attached to all Class IV lasers and is recommended for
Classes IIIA and IIIB as well. Other safety precautions that may be instituted
include access restriction to the lasing area, eye protection, area controls,
barriers, shrouds, education and training.
|
|
Industrial Lasers and Industrial Laser Manufacturers Image Provided
by Northrop
Grumman |
Types of Industrial Lasers
- use contained CO2 gas to produce their energy. CO2 lasers, which
can run
for thousands of hours before a new
CO2 supply is needed, work very well with most metals, wood, plastics,
ceramics, glass and quartz.
- , also referred to as "semiconductor
lasers," utilize
microscopic chips made of gallium-arsenide or another semiconductor
to generate their source of coherent light. Diode lasers are usually
smaller and less powerful than other lasers and can be found in CD-ROM
drives, CD players, barcode scanners and laser printers.
- have a higher inherent capability than the laser system into which
they are incorporated, where the lower assigned class number of the
system is appropriate to the engineering features that limit accessible
emission.
- produce short, intense ultraviolet
(UV) light pulses and have the greatest power and versatility of any
light source in the UV range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Excimer
lasers are widely used in the scientific, industrial and medical industries.
- are lasing devices constructed with the reflecting cavity
mirror attached to the containment envelope that houses the gas.
-
are used for many applications, including metal, dieboard and plastic
cutting, metal and non-metal marking and micro-machining.
- are used to scribe letters, words, designs, etc., on different
materials, such as ceramics, wood and glass. Different lenses provide
variations in laser diameter, which in turn increases or decreases
the thickness of the marking.
- are used in lieu of scalpels and other medical instruments because of their precision.
- use neodymium-doped YAG crystals.
- present a quick exposure
time with little material outside the focus area being heated. Welding
lasers, which operate with a very dense energy, are extremely precise
and can perform welds that a human welder cannot.
- , also referred to as "Nd:YAG lasers" or "YAG
lasers," are solid state lasers that use neodymium-doped YAG crystals
as the lasing mediums. YAG lasers are available in constant and pulsing
configurations and are generally used for such applications as laser
marking, cutting
and welding.
Common Terms Related to Industrial Lasers
-
Deviations from true imaging that are produced by lenses as light rays
pass through them.
- The maximum angle at which light can enter an
optical device and still produce the output desired.
- The loss of energy or power that results from the
passing of a laser beam through an absorbing or scattering medium.
- A collection of parallel, convergent or divergent rays.
- Any optical system that is designed to increase
the diameter of a laser beam.
- The scattering of light in its medium due
to the presence of sound waves passing through that medium. Brillouin
scattering takes place at an atomic level.
- The state of being in unison. Most waves emitted from
lasers are said to be coherent.
- Parallel light rays. Many lasers emit collimated
light or are able to collimate light using a lens or other device.
- The continuous, steady delivery of laser
power.
- The act of giving off radiant energy by a molecule or
an atom.
- A heavy fog that is caused by the scattering of light from
an optical surface.
- Radiation that has a wavelength from 700nm to 1mm. Infrared
radiation is produced by CO2 lasers and is extremely hot.
- A device that uses interference from rays of light
to determine characteristics such as flatness, wavelength, etc.
- Light that consists of one color, wavelength
or a very fine band of wavelengths. All lasers produce highly monochromatic
light.
- The emission and propagation of energy in the forms
of waves and/or rays.
- A secondary beam that results from the back-reflection
of the main beam at the outer surface of an output coupler.
- Invisible radiation with wavelengths shorter
than 400 nm. Even though light is visible radiation, UV rays are still
referred to as light rays.
- The distance between the peak of a single wave of
light or heat and the subsequent corresponding peak.