Looking Back
30, 20 and 10 Years Ago in OPN
Fiber lasers for materials processing; ultrashort pulses for biology; the 2-μm fiber laser market.
1994
[G. Brida / Wikimedia Commons; CC-BY-2.0]
“In the future, fibers must be able to carry laser power in the 3-5 kW range. The benefits of fiber delivery and the suitability of the 1.06 μm wavelength for materials processing have created a demand for higher-powered Nd:YAG units in a market that, in the past, could only be served by CO2 lasers. There is no theoretical reason why fibers can’t be used for these higher-power tasks. Power levels in present Nd:YAG systems are still hundreds of times below the damage threshold of fused silica.”
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