Industrial Laser System Delivers 250 J

Hamamatsu Photonics has developed an industrial pulsed laser system that produces a pulse energy of 250 J, the highest energy to date among LD-pumped lasers, the company said. The laser system boosts the energy storage capability of the laser medium as well as beam quality to deliver more than double the energy amplification capability while maintaining the same size as currently available industrial pulsed lasers.

The development of the system stems from the Research and Development of Next-Generation Laser Processing Technology project supported by NEDO, a national research and development agency in Japan. Hamamatsu Photonics has been developing high-power pulsed laser systems as part of the Development of Advanced Laser Processing with Intelligence Based on High-Brightness and High-Efficiency Next-Generation Laser Technologies (TACMI) project supported by NEDO. In 2019 the company created an industrial pulsed laser capable of reaching 117 J using four LD modules that were manufactured in house, and two laser amplifiers, each equipped with six ceramic laser mediums.

The new system, developed out of those efforts, is able to reach 250 J. Using it, the company evaluated basic conditions necessary for designing a 1-kJ laser. It determined that such an endeavor is practical and achievable. Compared to its previous system, the company said, the 250-J laser has approximately double the light energy storage capacity. This was achieved by installing a laser medium composed of 10 ceramic disks, each with a surface area optimized for a laser medium.

External view of 250-J industrial pulsed laser. Courtesy of Hamamatsu Photonics.

An updated design for the amplifiers and compact LD modules, mounted at optimized irradiation angles and positions, increased the pumping efficiency to the laser medium and improved the pumping capacity to about twice that of the previous system. Despite the increase in power, the system is approximately the same size as previous iterations.

In cooperation with the TACMI Consortium, Hamamatsu and NEDO will begin building a database that integrates laser processing-machining experiments and data acquired through the use of the new system. The company will also continue research work aimed at the realization of 1-kJ industrial pulsed laser system.