Industrial fiber beam delivery system for ultrafast lasers: applications and recent advances

Abstract

Fiber based laser beam delivery is the method of choice for high power laser applications whenever great flexibility is required. For cw-lasers fiber beam delivery has long been established but has recently also become available for ultrafast lasers. Using micro-structured hollow core fibers that guide the laser beam mostly inside a hollow core, nonlinear effects and catastrophic damage that arise in conventional glass fibers can be avoided. Today, ultrafast pulses with several 100 μJ and hundreds of MW can be transmitted in quasi single mode fashion. In addition, the technology opens new possibilities for beam delivery systems as the pulse propagation inside the fiber can be altered on purpose. For example to shorten the pulse duration of picosecond lasers down into the femtosecond regime. We present a modular fiber beam delivery system for micromachining applications with industrial pico- and femtosecond lasers that is flexibly integrated into existing applications. Micro-structured hollow core fibers inside the sealed laser light cable efficiently guide high-power laser pulses over distances of several meters with excellent beam quality, while power, pulse duration and polarization are maintained. Robust and stable beam transport during dynamic operation as in robot or gantry systems will be discussed together with optional pulse compression.