Nanosecond pulsed fiber lasers have made a significant impact on general marking applications. There is now a greater appreciation of the versatility of these laser sources for industrial micromachining applications The low cost compact nature of these sources coupled with the virtually no maintenance requirement gives users a fit and forget option.

Some MOPA fiber laser sources allow users to vary to pulse width and also to operate over wider pulse repetition rate than conventional 1 micron sources. This flexibility in adjustment can enable users to optimise the pulse characteristics for more challenging applications. Fiber lasers can also deliver specific beam qualities through internal fiber design and this has opened up further opportunities with significant benefits to micromachining applications.

Applications beyond the traditional marking are reviewed, including; deep engraving, thin film patterning, micro cutting, drilling, cleaning, scribing and even soldering.

The current generation of pulsed nanosecond fiber lasers are highly flexible, versatile and reconfigurable and are capable of a broad range of micromachining applications.

1.
Hoult
A
,
High precision laser marking with novel nano second pulsed MOPA fiber lasers
.
Proc. 4th Int. Conf. Lasers in Manufacturing
,
Munich
June
2007
.
2.
Gabzdyl
J.
Fibre lasers make their mark.
Nature Photonics
,
Technology Focus
, January
2008
.
3.
Gabzdyl
J
,
Hoult
A
,
Ming
Lu
,
Microprocessing with high repetition rate pulsed fiber lasers
Proc. 4th Int. Conf. PICALO
,
Beijing
2008
.
4.
Ming
Lu
,
Hoult
A
,
TSE
A
,
“Colour marking of metals with fiber lasers
Proc. 4th Int. Conf. PICALO
,
Beijing
2008
5.
Hoult
A
,
Gabzdyl
J
,
Ming
Lu
;
“Applications of Fiber lasers in solar cell manufacture
”,
Proc. 4th Int. Conf. PICALO
,
Beijing
2008
6.
O’Neill
,
W.
and
Li
,
K.
and
Hu
,
Q.
and
Chopra
,
P.
and
Kanghee
,
J.
and
Buntardjo
,
A.
(
2008
)
Microfabrication using a single mode Yb fiber laser
In:
Fourth Int. Conf. on Multi-Material Micro Manufacture (4M2008
), 9-11 September 2008,
Cardiff, UK
.
7.
Chen
H
,
Shannon
G
“Precision cutting and drilling metals with a fiber laser marker
”.
Proc. 28th Int Conference ICALEO
2009
USA
This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.