Author: RToell

Resonator mirrors for industrial production

The design and manufacture of Pleiger Laseroptik’s resonator mirrors achieve the highest standards in every respect. Under the harsh conditions in CO2 laser resonators, they ensure constant laser output and are ideally suited for specific applications in the industrial environment for processing materials such as metal, dielectrics or organic materials.

CO2 lasers have become indispensable as powerful tools in the field of materials processing. Along with solid-state lasers, they are among the most effective types of lasers used in the industrial environment in the processing of metals or, for example, for the thermal ablation of plastics, but they are also ideal for marking organic materials or substances such as wood, cardboard or leather. Such gas lasers are not only suitable for surface processing, marking and labeling workpieces, but also guarantee excellent results when welding or cutting. Because of their power density and high beam quality, CO2 lasers are among the most powerful laser types for industrial applications.

In carbon dioxide lasers, CO2 generates the laser beam. Excitation is first achieved by an RF glow discharge of N2 molecules. In the second step, these emit their energy through collisions with CO2 molecules. If a photon hits the excited CO2 molecule, the CO2 can release its energy by emitting another photon. The two photons are coherent (in phase).

Pleiger resonator mirrors (plane mirrors or spheres) are precision elements in such CO2 laser resonators or laser systems which are decisive for their performance: The emitted monochromatic photons show an extraordinarily high coherence. Depending on the application and the physically required property (reflectivity), the resonator mirrors are metallic or dielectric coated.

In addition to their use in resonators, CO2 laser mirrors from Pleiger also serve as deflection units and are also used for beam shaping. Resonator mirrors from Pleiger are precision-manufactured in our own development department according to the requirements profile or customer-specific specifications. The high-power mirrors for CO2 resonators meet the highest standards with regard to reflectivity (R > 99.8 %) and stability under the demanding conditions in the specifically desired areas of application. The use of CO2 lasers enables a uniform processing of materials and impresses with a superior efficiency compared to other processes.

Pleiger Laseroptik – your partner for high-quality optical components and coatings for more than 20 years.

Copper mirrors – extraordinary laser power, high thermal conductivity

Lasers with a power of up to 10 kW are used for laser welding of metal. The laser beam is focused onto metal components, for example, via a deflection mirror in order to weld them together. Copper mirrors from Pleiger Laseroptik are the first choice for high-power lasers.

For laser cutting and welding systems, Pleiger Laseroptik supplies mirrors and focusing lenses that meet the highest standards of precision and material quality required for laser welding for joining or cutting metals and plastics. As a rule, mirror optics that are cooled directly are used for higher laser powers. For this purpose, metal mirrors made of copper are used in welding and cutting optics, for example, because materials are required here that must withstand the sometimes extreme thermal loads. Concave or convex mirror surfaces focus, widen or deflect the laser beam as required. Finally, a focusing mirror bundles the laser beam and directs it directly onto the workpiece to be processed.

In all areas of application, copper mirrors, which are available from Pleiger Laser Optics in planar, spherical, parabolic, toric or cylindrical versions as required, guarantee optimum performance. At Pleiger, we manufacture copper mirrors with dielectric or metallic coatings in our own development department with the highest quality standards exactly according to the specifications of our customers.

Copper mirrors are generally used where particularly high laser powers can lead to extremely high heating of the substrates. After all, uncoated copper mirrors absorb up to 2%, while coated ones absorb < 0.2% of the power of a laser during operation. In this context, copper proves to be particularly suitable for such extreme conditions due to its excellent thermal conductivity with appropriate heat dissipation and also offers further advantages over other materials in terms of mechanical stability.

Welding with the laser is predominantly carried out without the addition of filler materials. Laser welding is up to eight times faster than conventional welding processes. The low energy transfer into the workpiece to be processed through precise and power-dense focusing on the focal spot results in hardly measurable thermal distortion. In this context, the process is equally suitable for environments with thermo-sensitive materials such as plastics or glass.

Let us advise you or contact the experts at Pleiger Laseroptik here. Find out more about our optics for laser material processing and optical systems in our webshop.

Silicon mirrors for industrial production

silicon mirror for industrial production

As a brittle-hard material with many applications, high-purity monocrystalline silicon is used in various areas of industry and science. These include highly demanding components such as lenses, prisms or mirrors, as used in optoelectronics and laser technology. In scanner systems, silicon mirrors are used to deflect the laser beam to enable high-precision cutting or marking.

Laser beam cutting or marking with pulsed or continuously emitting high-power lasers is now one of the proven processes in industrial practice. For the respectively desired high-precision results in manufacturing processes and micro material processing, high process reliability and constant power are required: Our High Power CO2 coatings and optics are designed to meet these high production challenges in the industrial environment.

Dielectric coatings, which are individually optimized for the wavelength or laser, ensure precisely defined optical interference between reflecting or transmitting partial beams of incident light. Pleiger’s optical mirrors are characterized by very low absorption values and maximum reflection properties of up to 99.9 percent. Dielectrically coated mirrors of this quality are optimally configured for the respective requirements, are extremely resilient and thus extraordinarily durable.

Silicon mirrors from Pleiger Laser Optics:

High durability, highest optical properties
Extremely thin dielectric coatings (in the nanometer range)
With proper cooling and mounting, laser powers up to serveral kW can be handled
Low absorption values
Maximum relfection
Wide range of applications

In industrial production, cutting with laser beams is a process that can be used to produce even very complex components with dimensional accuracy, precise kerf and cut quality, and little influence from heat. There are numerous application areas for automated, non-contact processing of different materials. These include unalloyed, low-alloyed, galvanized or coated structural and tool steel, high-alloy steels, AI or AI alloys, plastics (acrylic glass), rubber, paper, wood or quartz glass. Pleiger Laseroptik supplies high-quality mirrors and focusing lenses for laser cutting systems, which ensure optimum performance in numerous areas of application in industrial manufacturing. Further applications are in the fields of surface or depth marking or laser engraving of organic or metallic materials. This often involves machine-readable information on materials or end products: Date information, bar codes or serial numbers, but also logos, pictograms or illustrations. Laser mirrors and lenses from Pleiger Laser Optics are the first choice in many areas where precise ablative material processing is desired, such as the marking of metallic materials for permanently legible identification of nameplates or product marking.