A company was paying a lot for top quality German made F-Theta lenses. Less expensive lenses did not have the optical quality to meet the high accuracy in their material processing application. They found that Geomatec F-theta lenses from Japan…
When a galvanometer scanner is not fast enough, a polygon scanner may be the solution. Polygon scanners are 10 to 100 times faster than galvanometer scanners. However, polygon scanners, with their controllers, can be very bulky making it difficult to…
Laser damage to galvanometer (galvo) mirrors is a major issue in some high power applications. The galvo mirror(s) may be the weak link preventing use of higher power lasers which would allow processing material at a faster rate. This is…
Since the laser was invented, galvanometer (galvo) scanners have been used for scanning the beam. Galvos are ideal for high power / low speed material processing applications. Every year laser power goes up. Higher power allows faster processing which means…
Some laser material processing applications, whether using an X-Y stage or galvanometer scan head or polygon scan head, can benefit from beam shaping. The typical laser has a Gaussian beam. The energy of the Gaussian beam is highest at the…
Polygon scanners are used for high speed laser scanning. A multi-faceted polygon can be rotated at tens of thousands of RPM to produce scan rates far higher than galvanometer scanners. Galvanometer aka Galvo scanners are limited primarily by the inertia…
Graphene is a single-layer of carbon atoms with extraordinary quantum electronic properties. It is a transparent, flexible material which is 200 times stronger than steel. It conducts electricity better than copper and has the highest thermal conductivity known to man.…
ULTRAFAST / USP (picosecond and femtosecond pulse) lasers are a game changer. Slower lasers have a heating effect. Molten material tends to splatter and a Heat Affected Zone may alter the surrounding material in an undesirable way. ULTRAFAST lasers have…