Pulse Shaping for Micro Cutting Applications of Metals with Fiber Lasers

Photonics West, LASE 2004
Proceedings of SPIE Vol. #5339: Photon Processing in Microelectronics and Photonics III

K. F. Kleine*, K. G. Watkins**

* Laser Group, Guidant Corp., 3200 Lakeside Dr., Santa Clara, CA 95054, USA

**Laser Group, Department of Engineering, University of Liverpool, Brownlow Street,
Liverpool L69 3GH, United Kingdom

High power single mode fiber lasers are an excellent tool for micro cutting applications. In order to manage the heat input into the material most micro cutting applications require pulsed operation of the laser. Temporal pulse shaping is a proven and enabling technology for many laser welding applications with flash lamp pumped lasers where typical pulse lengths are in the order of 0.1 to 10 ms. The excellent controllability of diode pumped fiber lasers enables pulse shaping during the cutting process with a laser pulse length of typically less then 0.1 ms. For laser micro cutting applications a small kerf width with small HAZ and good surface finish defines the quality of the process. This paper shows the influence of the laser pulse shape on the cutting performance in stainless steel with diode pumped fiber lasers.