fiber laser

There's an interesting new technology out there that I would like to make you guys aware of. It's the fiber laser. A laser that is nothing else than a fiber. Currently not to many products exist just yet, however, that is al about to change very, very, soon.

The superiority of the fiber laser lies in it's energy efficiency and the optical proporties of the beam which is delivered. This basically allows for the tightest focus possible according to optical rules. (M2 values of 1.1 have been routinely demonstrated, if anyone knows what that means). Optical efficiency lies around 30 percent, considering that the efficiency of other systems is far below that.

These products are being considered for defense contracts, and the scalability of these laser could show a 10 kW system in the not too far future. 10 kW is not usefull for target acquisition and illumination anymore if that's what you were thinking . So let's keep an eye out for these, shall we??

You mean the newly released air-cooled Cobalt Series Fiber Laser Marker is a pulsed marker for metal and plastics applications. Typically, low power fiber lasers have been continuous wave, which meant users were limited to marking plastic. With the Cobalt Series and its Q-switched operation, users can now mark on plastics as well as metals, including aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium.

The Cobalt Series is ideal for those companies where a traditional flash lamp or diode pumped laser marker might be too large and/or expensive. With the Cobalt Series, companies now have a compact and highly reliable fiber laser marker for specialized marking applications.

If you think 10 kW CW is low power for only 3 years of development, I have to disagree. If this technology is scaled up, it could provide tremendous possibilities. I don't see much future for Q-switched, except maybe for scientific users, as the pulse lengths will become quite long (Long fiber needed for high power, so longer path length).

And I'm not talking about Cobalt....(Didn't actually know these guys just until now)

I hope intelgirl can give us (me) some tech specs of these, such as how its pumped, how its made and possible wavelenghts (colours).

This is the future if its pumped by highvoltage and has a high damage threshold, any one into lasers should grab these before laser laws are passed!

[edit on 7-12-2004 by XL5]