DIODE LASERS BLUE
High-power blue diode lasers are becoming available that have significant advantages over traditional infrared lasers for machining metals. Greg Blackman investigates
F
ibre lasers are dominating the material processing market right now, but many metals only absorb partially in the 1µm wavelength emitted by solid-state lasers.
Now, high-power diode laser systems are beginning to be released based on blue laser diode technology, at which wavelength pretty much all metals have higher absorption. Industrial blue laser diode systems from US
firm Nuburu and Japanese company Shimadzu were exhibited for the first time at SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco early in the year – Nuburu was a finalist for a Prism Award at the event. In addition, Laserline presented work at the conference from the German-funded Blaulas project, which is developing high-power CW blue laser diode bars. Gallium nitride, the material blue laser
diodes are made from, is manufactured in large volumes for displays and illumination, but only now has it matured to a point where it can be used for material processing, according to Jean-Michel Pelaprat, co- founder of Nuburu. Dr Christoph Ullmann, managing director
of Laserline, explained: ‘In the past, the output power of blue diodes was not at a level where you could build lasers for material processing. Today, with the 50W bar [from the Blaulas project] we are now at a level where it’s possible to build systems with some
18 LASER SYSTEMS EUROPE ISSUE 38 • SPRING 2018
Copper has 13 times higher absorption of blue laser light compared to infrared
REVOLUTION
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Nuburu
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