We demonstrate a robust, compact, low-cost, pulsed, linearly polarized, 1064 nm, Yb:fiber laser system capable of generating ~100 kW peak power pulses and >17 W average power at repetition rates of 80 – 285 kHz. The system employs a configurable microchip seed laser that provides nanosecond (~1.0 – 1.5 ns) pulse durations. The seed pulses are amplified in an all-fiber, polarization maintaining, large mode area (LMA) fiber amplifier optimized for high peak power operation. The LMA Yb:fiber amplifier enables near diffraction limited beam quality at 100 kW peak power. The seed laser, fiber amplifier, and beam delivery optics are packaged into an air-cooled laser head of 152×330×87 mm3 with pump power provided from a separate air-cooled laser controller. Due to the high peak power, high beam quality, spectral purity, and linearly polarized nature of the output beam, the laser is readily frequency doubled to 532 nm. Average 532 nm powers up to 7 W and peak powers exceeding 40 kW have been demonstrated. Potential for scaling to higher peak and average powers in both the green and infrared (IR) will be discussed. This laser system has been field tested and demonstrated in numerous materials processing applications in both the IR and green, including scribing and marking. We discuss recent results that demonstrate success in processing a diverse array of representative industrial samples.
We have demonstrated a pulsed 1064 nm PM Yb:fiber laser system incorporating a seed source with a tunable pulse repetition rate and pulse duration and a multistage fiber amplifier, ending in a large core (>650 μm2 mode field area), tapered fiber amplifier. The amplifier chain is all-fiber, with the exception of the final amplifier’s pump combiner, allowing robust, compact packaging. The air-cooled laser system is rated for >60 W of average power and beam quality of M2 < 1.3 at repetition rates below 100 kHz to 10’s of MHz, with pulses discretely tunable over a range spanning 50 ps to greater than 1.5 ns. Maximum pulse energies, limited by the onset of self phase modulation and stimulated Raman scattering, are greater than 12.5 μJ at 50 ps and 375 μJ at 1.5 ns , corresponding to >250 kW peak power across the pulse tuning range. We present frequency conversion to 532 nm with efficiency greater than 70% and conversion to UV via frequency tripling, with initial feasibility experiments showing >30% UV conversion efficiency. Application results of the laser in scribing, thin film removal and micro-machining will be discussed.
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