Industrial Lasers

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 Schmidt Marking Systems

Industrial Lasers and Industrial Laser Manufacturers Image Provided by Northrop Grumman

Types of Industrial Lasers

• C02 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.
  
• Diode lasers, 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.
  
• Embedded lasers 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.
  
• Excimer lasers 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.
  
• Internal mirror lasers are lasing devices constructed with the reflecting cavity mirror attached to the containment envelope that houses the gas.
  
• Laser systems are used for many applications, including metal, dieboard and plastic cutting, metal and non-metal marking and micro-machining.
  
• Marking lasers 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.
  
• Medical lasers are used in lieu of scalpels and other medical instruments because of their precision.
  
• ND YAG lasers use neodymium-doped YAG crystals.
  
• Welding lasers 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.
  
• Yttrium aluminum garnet lasers, 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

Aberrations – Deviations from true imaging that are produced by lenses as light rays pass through them.

Acceptance Angle – The maximum angle at which light can enter an optical device and still produce the output desired.

Attenuation – The loss of energy or power that results from the passing of a laser beam through an absorbing or scattering medium.

Beam – A collection of parallel, convergent or divergent rays.

Beam Expander – Any optical system that is designed to increase the diameter of a laser beam.

Brillouin Scattering – 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.

Coherence – The state of being in unison. Most waves emitted from lasers are said to be coherent.

Collimated Light – Parallel light rays. Many lasers emit collimated light or are able to collimate light using a lens or other device.

Continuous Wave (CW) – The continuous, steady delivery of laser power.

Emission – The act of giving off radiant energy by a molecule or an atom.

Haze – A heavy fog that is caused by the scattering of light from an optical surface.

Infrared – Radiation that has a wavelength from 700nm to 1mm. Infrared radiation is produced by CO2 lasers and is extremely hot.

Interferometer – A device that uses interference from rays of light to determine characteristics such as flatness, wavelength, etc.

Monochromatic Light – Light that consists of one color, wavelength or a very fine band of wavelengths. All lasers produce highly monochromatic light.

Radiation – The emission and propagation of energy in the forms of waves and/or rays.

Satellite Beam – A secondary beam that results from the back-reflection of the main beam at the outer surface of an output coupler.

Ultraviolet (UV) Light – Invisible radiation with wavelengths shorter than 400 nm. Even though light is visible radiation, UV rays are still referred to as light rays.

Wavelength – The distance between the peak of a single wave of light or heat and the subsequent corresponding peak.