How to choose the right laser source

Laser source is one of the essential core components in modern laser equipment processing system. With the development of laser equipment processing technology, laser is also constantly developing, there are many new lasers.
In the early stage, the laser used for laser processing was mainly high-power CO2 gas laser and lamp-pumped solid YAG laser. The development trend was to improve the laser power, but when the laser power reached a certain requirement, the laser beam quality was paid attention to, and the development of laser was then transferred to improve the beam quality. The semiconductor laser, fiber laser and disc laser have been developed successively, and the laser material processing, medical treatment, aerospace, automobile manufacturing and other fields have achieved rapid development.


CO2 laser source, Nd: YAG laser, semiconductor laser, disc laser and fiber laser as the current market laser equipment in the most common five types of laser, they have what kind of characteristics and application range? Let's take a look!


CO2 laser source
Application: The laser wavelength of CO2 laser is 10.6um, and the absorption coefficient of metal is low. It is generally suitable for cutting non-metallic materials, and can be used for welding metal materials. Can be widely used in aviation, electronic instrument, machinery, automobile and other fields of welding applications.


Nd: YAG laser source
Application: YAG laser to metal absorption coefficient is higher, can be used for metal cutting, welding, marking and other applications. Because of its high energy, high peak power, compact structure, firm and durable, reliable performance and other characteristics, it is widely used in industry, national defense, medical, scientific research and other fields.


Semiconductor laser source
Application: semiconductor laser is limited by the high uniformity of laser beam, its penetration is poor, so it is not suitable for metal cutting applications, but its spot characteristics are suitable for metal surface treatment, such as cladding, hardening, 3D printing and so on. Can be widely used in aerospace, medical, automotive and other fields.


Disc laser source
Application: disc laser is a space optical path coupling structure, so the beam quality is very high, for laser material applications such as metal cutting, welding, marking, laser cladding, hardening and 3D printing can be applied, it is widely used in automotive manufacturing, aerospace, precision machinery, 3C electronics and other fields.


Fiber laser source
Application: Because of the high electro-optical conversion efficiency of fiber laser, good metal absorption coefficient, high beam quality, so it can be used for metal cutting, welding, marking, metal surface treatment and other applications. Widely used in aerospace, automobile manufacturing, 3C electronics, medical and other fields.