Variable beam high power fiber laser with optimized beam characteristics for metal cutting

Industrial lasers used for materials processing have become essential tools in a wide array of applications, including cutting, welding, drilling, cladding, marking, hardening, and additive manufacturing. The speed, quality, and process window are determined in part by the laser beam properties such as beam size, shape, and divergence. nLIGHT (R) has developed a new multi-kilowatt fiber laser, Corona (TM), that provides rapid tunability of the beam characteristics directly from the laser output fiber using a novel, all-fiber mechanism. Programmable beam shapes include flat top and donut beams with beam diameters from 100 mu m to 390.m and beam parameter products from 3 to 20 mm-mrad (M-2 values from 9 to 59). We describe the Corona fiber laser performance and show processing results and advantages of specific beam shapes for sheet-metal cutting, the largest industrial laser application.