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Femtosecond Lasers or Picosecond Lasers?

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Laserod Wafer
Femtosecond Lasers or Picosecond Lasers?

Ultrafast or ultra-short pulse lasers provide unique material processing possibilities because the pulse duration of the laser is less than the conduction time of the target material. This essentially means cold machining of parts is possible-with the material being extracted by sublimation. This vaporization machining approach provides advantages that other methods simply cannot deliver, including:

• Near zero heat effect
• No or minimal burring and minimal debris, which reduces or eliminates post-processing
• High dimensional accuracy (typically ±0.0005 in.)
• The capability to produce high-quality small features in glass, plastics, ceramic, and metals

These systems are, however, expensive, so the choice of laser and system must be considered carefully. Shorter pulse duration drives interest in using ultrashort pulse lasers. Like so many other laser technologies, the ultra-short pulse laser came to life in a research lab many years ago. However, there was soon significant commercial interest. The capacity to process almost any material with virtually no heat signature offered a unique manufacturing tool allowing ingenuity and development of the product. It even helps in cost-cutting in some situations.
Which ultra-short laser pulse technology is suitable for specific applications? Ultrafast lasers fall into two main categories:


The picosecond laser (PS) generates optical pulses with a pulse duration of about 10 PS-or a millionth of a microsecond.

The femtosecond laser (FS) produces pulses that are around 400 FS, less than a trillionth of a second in duration.

Such lasers outstand in handling content thicknesses below 0.01 in. (250 microns). It is possible to handle thicker materials, but if so, one has to consider cycle time more carefully. The variations in processing between PS and FS lasers can be very subtle in some cases, and very obvious in others. The difference is subtle when used for processing the metals. The FS laser provides zero topside burrs with slightly better-defined characteristics and lower roughness of the surface. As well, the FS laser can treat a wider range of plastics. PS lasers generally require green or UV wavelengths to be successful in processing plastics. A comparison of quality between PS and FS is based on the material dependent. FS is a clear choice when the absolute best quality is required. PS lasers tend to machine faster, though.

Summarizing System Needs

Before heading to system fulfillment, a range of milestones must be addressed, including the viability of application, development of the application for production, production of a sufficient number of pre-production parts, and, most significantly, the development of a specific technology solution route for a production machine.
There is an advantage in completing these steps with a single company like Laserod Technologies because the design and system concept is executed from the foundational knowledge associated with developing the application process. Contact Laserod Technologies at www.laserod.com for more details.

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