What Types of Fiber Lasers are there?
Generally speaking, Fiber Lasers are categorized by the following attributes :
- Source – Wavelengths can be varied for various applications by mixing the source laser with certain rare-earth material. Examples include Thulium-doped lasers and Erbium-doped lasers
- Mode – There are two modes of laser light delivery (the Laser Beam); single mode and multi-mode. Single-mode fiber lasers are smaller (between 8 – 9 microns) while multi-mode fiber lasers operate between 50 – 100 microns
- Power – expressed in watts representing the average power of the laser beam. The higher the power (higher wattage) the greater the cutting energy
- Pulse – Laser beams are either pulsed at a set frequency to reach peak power (pulsed fiber lasers) or continuous-wave with a constant amount of energy
What is the Difference between Fiber and CO2 Lasers?
Simply stated, Fiber Lasers generate their energy from silica glass mixed with rare-earth elements. CO2 lasers are generated from a mixture of gasses including carbon dioxide.
- Fiber Lasers are categorized as solid-state lasers while CO2 lasers are considered gas-state lasers.
- Fiber Lasers produce shorter wavelengths (780nm – 2200nm) while CO2 lasers operate between 9,600nm and 10,600nm
Which Machine is Better for me?
In general terms the applications for Fiber and CO2 lasers can be broken down at follows:
- Fiber Lasers are best for marking metal while CO2 lasers are used for marking textiles, wood, plastics (like PVC), glass or cardboard materials
- Fiber Lasers are better for cutting metals (High-power/Continuous Wave) while plastics and less dense materials can be handled by either technology
- Fiber Laser’s small focal diameter make them ideal for permanent marking part numbers, barcodes and technical data
- Fiber Lasers are maintenance-free and their optical components have +100,000 hours service life. They are smaller in size to comparable powered CO2 lasers and are considered more efficient as they use considerably less power.
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