Feature
Fiber Lasers: The 2 μm Market Heats Up
Rapid gains in fiber laser technology, particularly in a key infrared wavelength band, are allowing these lasers to expand into a range of application areas.
A note on “eye safety”: While wavelengths longer than 1.3 to 1.4 μm are sometimes colloquially referred to as “eye-safe” wavelengths—because the eye’s cornea and lens tend to absorb light at those wavelengths, thereby protecting the sensitive retina from them—it does not follow that lasers at these wavelengths are necessarily “eye-safe lasers.” At the power levels of mid-infrared fiber lasers in particular, substantial eye damage is still possible from these lasers, and all relevant safety precautions apply.
In recent years, remarkable advances in fiber laser technology have rapidly changed the game for these lasers in the marketplace. The advantages of fiber lasers—compactness, high average power, high beam quality, high efficiency and low cost of ownership for maintenance and operation—have allowed them to make inroads against conventional solid-state lasers (and, increasingly, CO2 lasers) in many areas. Fiber lasers are finding wide use in applications ranging from materials processing and medicine to free-space optical communications, fiber optic sensing, precise frequency metrology, 3-D lidar and high-energy laser weapons. And the trend seems likely to continue in the foreseeable future.
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