This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 8239, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction, and Conference Committee listing.

This article gives an overview on the development of laser brazing technology as a new joining technique for car body production. The story starts with fundamental research work at German institutes in 1993, continues with the first implementations in automobile production in 1998, gives examples of applications since then and ends with an outlook. Laser brazing adapted design of joints and boundary conditions for a safe processing are discussed. Besides a better understanding for the sensitivity of the process against joint irregularities and misalignment, the key to successful launch was an advanced system technology. Different working heads equipped with wire feeding device, seam tracking system or tactile sensors for an automated teaching are presented in this paper. Novel laser heads providing a two beam technology will allow improved penetration depth of the filler wire and a more ecological processing by means of energy consumption.

The present paper reviews recent progress in productivity, precision and quality of laser-based cladding and additive layer manufacturing. Recently, we have demonstrated the great benefits obtained from induction assisted laser cladding. This novel hybrid technology combines high deposition rates with excellent cladding properties. Laser-based direct metal deposition is a novel concept for the fabrication of components and repair as well as geometrical surface modifications. Newly developed nozzle design allows focused powder spots to generate wall thicknesses of about 30 μm. An in-depth understanding of the processes and the resulting materials properties is key for the development of technically viable and economically reasonable customized solutions.

Commercial space operations strive to maximize the payload per launch in order to minimize the costs of each kg launched into orbit; this yields demand for ever larger launchers with larger, more powerful rocket engines. Volvo Aero Corporation in collaboration with Snecma and Astrium has designed and tested a new, upgraded Nozzle extension for the Vulcain 2 engine configuration, denoted Vulcain 2+ NE Demonstrator The manufacturing process for the welding of the sandwich wall and the stiffening structure is developed in close cooperation with FORCE Technology. The upgrade is intended to be available for future development programs for the European Space Agency's (ESA) highly successful commercial launch vehicle, the ARIANE 5. The Vulcain 2+ Nozzle Extension Demonstrator [1] features a novel, thin-sheet laser-welded configuration, with laser metal deposition built-up 3D-features for the mounting of stiffening structure, flanges and for structural strengthening, in order to cope with the extreme load- and thermal conditions, to which the rocket nozzle extension is exposed during launch of the 750 ton ARIANE 5 launcher. Several millimeters of material thickness has been deposited by laser metal deposition without disturbing the intricate flow geometry of the nozzle cooling channels. The laser metal deposition process has been applied on a full-scale rocket nozzle demonstrator, and in excess of 15 kilometers of filler wire has been successfully applied to the rocket nozzle. The laser metal deposition has proven successful in two full-throttle, full-scale tests, firing the rocket engine and nozzle in the ESA test facility P5 by DLR in Lampoldshausen, Germany.

The disk laser with multi-kW output power in infrared cw operation is widely used in today's manufacturing, primarily in the automotive industry. The disk technology combines high power (average and/or peak power), excellent beam quality, high efficiency and high reliability with low investment and operating costs. Additionally, the disk laser is ideally suited for frequency conversion due to its polarized output with negligible depolarization losses. Laser light in the green spectral range (~515 nm) can be created with a nonlinear crystal. Pulsed disk lasers with green output of well above 50 W (extracavity doubling) in the ps regime and several hundreds of Watts in the ns regime with intracavity doubling are already commercially available whereas intracavity doubled disk lasers in continuous wave operation with greater than 250 W output are in test phase. In both operating modes (pulsed and cw) the frequency doubled disk laser offers advantages in existing and new applications. Copper welding for example is said to show much higher process reliability with green laser light due to its higher absorption in comparison to the infrared. This improvement has the potential to be very beneficial for the automotive industry's move to electrical vehicles which requires reliable high-volume welding of copper as a major task for electro motors, batteries, etc.

High-power fiber lasers are the newest generation of diode-pumped solid-state lasers. Due to their all-fiber design they are compact, efficient and robust. Rofin's Fiber lasers are available with highest beam qualities but the use of different process fiber core sizes enables the user additionally to adapt the beam quality, focus size and Rayleigh length to his requirements for best processing results. Multi-mode fibers from 50μm to 600μm with corresponding beam qualities of 2.5 mm.mrad to 25 mm.mrad are typically used. The integrated beam switching modules can make the laser power available to 4 different manufacturing systems or can share the power to two processing heads for parallel processing. Also CO₂ Slab lasers combine high power with either "single-mode" beam quality or higher order modes. The wellestablished technique is in use for a large number of industrial applications, processing either metals or non-metallic materials. For many of these applications CO₂ lasers remain the best choice of possible laser sources either driven by the specific requirements of the application or because of the cost structure of the application. The actual technical properties of these lasers will be presented including an overview over the wavelength driven differences of application results, examples of current industrial practice as cutting, welding, surface processing including the flexible use of scanners and classical optics processing heads.

Chalcogenide samples with varying selenium concentrations, As₁₀Se₉₀, As₃₀Se₇₀, As₄₀Se₆₀, and As₅₀Se₅₀, were characterized for high power transmission using a Tm:fiber laser system. The Tm:fiber laser oscillator consists of a LMA fiber with 25/400 μm core/cladding diameters pumped by 793 nm diode. The output beam was collimated to a 3 mm beam diameter, and transmitted through the chalcogenide samples at CW powers up to 23 W. We measure the transmission as a function of incident power, as well as some initial characterization of surface damage from nanosecond pulses at 2 μm. Furthermore, we utilize a wavefront sensor to characterized the thermal lens induced by the Tm:fiber laser.

Modern laser technology is continuously opening up new fields of applications. Driven by the development of increasingly efficient laser sources, the new technology is successfully entering classical applications such as 3D cutting and welding of metals. Especially in light weight applications in the automotive industry laser manufacturing is key. Only by this technology the reduction of welding widths could be realised as well as the efficient machining of aluminium and the abrasion free machining of hardened steel. The paper compares the operation of different laser types in metal machining regarding wavelength, laser power, laser brilliance, process speed and welding depth to give an estimation for best use of single mode or multi mode lasers in this field of application. The experimental results will be presented by samples of applied parts. In addition a correlation between the process and the achieved mechanical properties will be made. For this application JENOPTIK Automatisierungstechnik GmbH is using the BIM beam control system in its machines, which is the first one to realize a fully integrated combination of beam control and robot. The wide performance and wavelength range of the laser radiation which can be transmitted opens up diverse possibilities of application and makes BIM a universal tool.

Titanium alloys are characterized by high mechanical properties and elevated corrosion resistance. The combination of laser welding with MIG/GMAW has proven to improve beneficial effects of both processes (keyhole, gap-bridging ability) while limiting their drawbacks (high thermal gradient, low mechanical resistance) In this paper, the hybrid Laser-GMAW welding of Ti-6Al-4V 3-mm thick sheets is investigated using a specific designed trailing shield. The joint geometry was the double fillet welded T-joint. Bead morphologies, microstructures and mechanical properties (micro-hardness) of welds were evaluated and compared to those achieved for the base metals.

Details and results of experimental investigations of a laser-supported plasma arc welding process are presented. The particular feature of the realized experimental set-up is the coaxial arrangement of a single-mode fibre laser beam through a hollow tungsten electrode in combination with a modified plasma welding torch. The analysis of the welding capabilities of the combined laser-arc source comprises high-speed video recordings of the arc shape and size, corresponding simultaneous measurements of the arc voltage as well as an evaluation of the resultant weld seam geometries. Results of welding trials on different types of steel and aluminum alloys are discussed. The corresponding investigations reveal that a fibre laser beam with a wavelength of 1.07 microns can have a crucial impact on the arc and welding characteristics for both categories of materials even at very low laser power output levels. Beneficial effects are especially observed with high welding speeds. In that particular case the arc root and therefore arc column can be substantially stabilized and guided by the laser-induced hot spot.

Higher productivity, lower distortion and better penetration are the main advantages which laser welding provides in comparison with conventional processes. A Trumpf TruDisk 2002 Yb:YAG disk-laser is used in this work, as it increases productivity and quality. Materials which involve many technological issues in welding, resulting in shallow penetration and defects, are aluminum alloys. In particular, AA 2024 behaviour is investigated in the paper, being this alloy extensively used in automotive and aerospace industries. Defocusing has been considered, as it affects key-holes conditions. Bead-on-plate and butt autogenous welding tests in continuous wave emission on 1.25 mm thick sheets have been examined from morphological and microstructural point of view. Geometric and mechanical features of the welding bead have been evaluated via a 3-levels experimental plan with power, welding speed and defocusing as governing factors. Softening in the fused zone through Vickers microhardness test and magnesium loss through energy dispersive spectrometer analysis have been discussed. Optimal welding conditions have been suggested.

Thanks to the recent affirmation of the active fiber lasers, remote laser welding of zinc coated steels is under investigation with a particular emphasis on the overlap joint geometry. Due to the high power and high beam quality offered by these lasers, the remote laser welding process has become more practicable. However laser welding of lap zinc coated steels is still problematic because of the violent vaporisation of zinc. The presence of a gap between the plates allowing vapour degassing has been proven to avoid defects due to zinc vaporization. On the other hand variation in the gap value can lead to the welding defect formation. Therefore constant gap values should be ensured and deviation from the reference gap value has to be monitored during the execution of the welding process. Furthermore, the on-line monitoring of the gap values between the plates can be helpful for the on-line quality control of the welding process. The paper proposes a new monitoring solution for the measurement of the gap in remote fiber laser welding of overlapped zinc coated steels. In this solution, referred as Through the Optical Combiner Monitoring (TOCM) , the optical emissions from the welding process are directly observed through the optical combiner of the fiber laser source with spectroscopic equipment. The TOCM solution presented in the paper is integrated in an IPG YLS 3000 fiber laser source whose beam is deflected and focused by means of an El.En. ScanFiber scanning system with an equivalent focal length of 300 mm. After the definition of the right welding process conditions, spectroscopic tests are exploited to evaluate the optical emission from the welding plasma/plume. Acquired spectra are then analysed with multivariate data analysis approach in order to ensure gap monitoring. Results showed that with the proposed method it is possible to evaluate not only the gap between the plates but also the location inside the weld at which the variation occurs. Furthermore, the relationship between the gap variation and local changes in the acquired spectra is given.

Service performance of all materials is determined by the structure-property relationship of the materials. However, the analysis of microstructure of an alloy has, to date, been limited to time- and labor-intensiveanalysis such as optical or scanning electron microscopes after material is synthesized. Presently there is no known method determining the microstructure during the material synthesis process. Here we report that the phase transformation can affect the characteristics of laser induced plasma during a direct laser material synthesis process. The plasma spectral line intensity ratio from different elements is only proportional to the elemental concentration within the same phase. The linear relationship is broken when there is a phase change and a new linear relationship is formed within the range of the new phase. This phase related plasma change indicates the initial nucleation of the crystallography of the alloy in early stage. This phase determined plasma characteristics will be applicable for in-situ phase transformation identification in real time during material synthesis process where plasma is generated. For synthesis where plasma is not generated, pulsed laser induced plasma can be used to sample the synthesized material for phase identification.

The objective of this paper is to introduce large area heat treating and cladding processes using novel, free space diode lasers as a means to reduce re-manufacturing costs and extend field lifetime of components. Lasers have been explored as an option for hard-facing and repair of metal surfaces for several years. This paper will describe how recent advances in diode laser design have resulted in enhanced process yields, improved quality and increased throughput, while also minimizing operating cost. A quantitative study shows that the time needed to cover a one square meter area during heat treating, and also during cladding applications, decreases by a factor of approximately 2.5, even when the laser power has only been increased by a factor of 1.75. This assumes the line beam length has also been increased to take full advantage of the additional laser power.

Laser beam heat treatment has been established during the last years as a complementary technology for local hardening treatment tasks at tool manufacturing, automotive industry and many others. Especially new high power diode lasers and a lot of process supporting systems, what have been developed in recent years, are responsible for the increase of industrial laser hardening applications. The short course starts with information about the basics of laser heat treatment. After that a review about suitable lasers and recommended systems for reliable and well adapted laser heat treatment processes is given. Examples of last ten years transfer of laser beam hardening into industry are presented and discussed.

High strength steels enable new solutions for weight optimized car bodies without sacrificing crash safety. However, cold forming of these steels is limited due to the need of high press capacity, increased tool wear, and limitations in possible geometries. One can compensate for these drawbacks by local heat treatment of the blanks. In high-deformation areas the strength of the material is reduced and the plasticity is increased by diode laser irradiation. Local heat treatment with diode laser radiation could also yield key benefits for the applicability of press hardened parts. High strength is not desired all over the part. Joint areas or deformation zones for requested crash properties require locally reduced strength. In the research project "LOKWAB" funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), heat treatment of high strength steels was investigated in cooperation with Audi, BMW, Daimler, ThyssenKrupp, Fraunhofer- ILT, -IWU and others. A diode laser with an output power of 10 kW was set up to achieve acceptable process speed. Furthermore a homogenizing zoom-optics was developed, providing a rectangular focus with homogeneous power density. The spot size in x- and y-direction can be changed independently during operation. With pyrometer controlled laser power the surface temperature is kept constant, thus the laser treated zone can be flexibly adapted to the needs. Deep-drawing experiments show significant improvement in formability. With this technique, parts can be manufactured, which can conventionally only be made of steel with lower strength. Locally reduced strength of press hardened serial parts was demonstrated.

In industrial laser cladding applications various new possibilities have opened up by introduction of laser sources with powers over 10 kW. Higher laser power allows higher deposition rates, which enables new applications for example in heavy engineering. However, to fully utilize the high power, beam area in focus needs to be increased significantly compared to for example welding. For high brightness lasers, this often requires complicated processing optics as the beam is usually Gaussian when defocused. In most surface treatment applications process would benefit from homogenous intensity distribution instead of a Gaussian one. In this paper we present ideas for cladding applications using a 12 kW disc laser coupled into a square-formed fiber with a 1000x1000 μm-core. The output of the fiber is collimated by a newly developed collimator based on cylindrical lenses with an 1:3.3 aspect ratio of focal lengths. The asymmetrically collimated beam is then condensed to a homogeneous rectangular spot on the work-piece using an f=500 mm focusing unit. With this setup we reach a spot size of 7.4x2.2 mm = 16.3 mm², implying laser power densities up to 740 W/mm². The asymmetric collimator is based on efficiently water-cooled cylindrical lenses with different focal lengths. Having interchangeable fiber connector interfaces and Optoskand's standard exit interface, the collimator can easily be implemented in optical heads. We present results on the optics performance including power transmission, image quality and focal shifts at power levels up to 12 kW. Results of preliminary cladding tests using the asymmetrical optics and offaxis tandem wire feeding will also be presented orally. Deposition rate and efficiency using high power levels will be investigated. Analyses of cladding bead geometry and microstructure will be performed.

Laser cutting and welding have been around for more than 30 years. Within those three decades there has never been a greater variety of high power laser types and wavelengths to choose from than there is today. There are many considerations when choosing the right laser for any given application - capital investment, cost of ownership, footprint, serviceability, along with a myriad of other commercial & economic considerations. However, one of the most fundamental questions that must be asked and answered is this - "what type of laser is best suited for the application?". Manufacturers and users alike are realizing what, in retrospect, may seem obvious - there is no such thing as a universal laser. In many cases there is one laser type and wavelength that clearly provides the highest quality application results. This paper will examine the application fields of high power, high brightness 10.6 & 1 micron laser welding & cutting and will provide guidelines for selecting the laser that is best suited for the application. Processing speed & edge quality serve as key criteria for cutting. Whereas speed, seam quality & spatter ejection provide the paradigm for welding.

Experimental, numerical and analytical investigations were performed to give a possible explanation of the differences in cutting quality detected for inert gas laser beam cutting process performed with disk and CO₂ laser sources. Cutting experiments were carried out at maximum cutting speed on cold work steel test specimens with different sheet thicknesses. The particular feature of the applied experimental setup was the similar geometry of both the CO₂ and the disk laser beam with comparable values of the focus diameter and the Rayleigh length. The thermodynamic analysis was based on experimentally primary losses evaluation by means of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) blocks, on numerical computation of conductive power losses and analytical calculation of the remaining terms of energy balance. Energy balance allowed the evaluation of secondary losses and proportion of vaporized kerf volume used for justifying the lower quality of disk laser cuts. The lower proportion of vaporized kerf volume detected for disk laser cuts results in an increased process temperature, thus an increase of viscosity of molten material and the subsequent more difficult ejection of the melted material from the cut kerf.

In some cases, laser fusion cutting of non-oriented electrical steel laminations for electrical machines has been investigated for some years but with unsatisfactory success. Certainly, recent laser beam technology seems to be a promising step forward, and opens up the manufacturer to new fields of application. In this paper, laser cutting of electrical sheet metal applying various beam sources with regard to the magnetic property deterioration is compared with conventionally manufactured samples. The obvious correlation of wavelength and affected magnetic parameters is characterized by using a commercialized measurement system. Moreover, an overview about the origin of the deterioration participating effects is given.

Coupling a laser into a hair thin water micro jet (Laser Micro Jet, LMJ) for cutting applications offers a wide range of processes that are quite unique. As the laser beam is guided by internal reflections inside of a liquid cylinder, the cuts are naturally straight and do not reflect any divergence as otherwise occurs with an unguided laser beam. Furthermore, having a liquid media at the point of contact ensures a fast removal of heat and eventual debris ensuring clean cuts, which are free of any burrs. Many applications have indeed been developed for a large variety of materials, which are as different as e.g. diamond, silicon, aluminum, ceramic and hard metals. The photovoltaic industry has enjoyed in the last decades tremendous growth rates, which are still projected into the future. We focus here on the segment of Building Integrated PV (BIPV), which requests tailored solutions to actual buildings and not-one-fits-it-all standardized modules. Having the option to tailor cut solar cells opens a new field of BIPV applications. For the first time, finished crystalline solar cells have been LMJ cut into predetermined shapes. First results show that the cut is clean and neat. Preliminary solar performance measurements are positive. This opens a new avenue of tailored made modules instead of having to rely on the one-fits-alloy approach used so far.

Remote Ablation Cutting (RAC) is a most promising process for cutting thin metal sheets in the automotive, medical and consumer industry. Characteristically for the RAC are high cutting velocities for metal foils as well as material processing of box structures without spatter contamination at the inner surface. Furthermore, the system technology for RAC can also be used for other processes, like welding and marking. Thereby, the flexibility of a production unit is increased, compared to a conventional cutting system. Despite several advantages, the RAC is not yet state of the art in industrial production. Reasons for that are lacking knowledge in the area of process itself and in possible application areas. In this paper a conceptual model of the ablation and the ejection mechanism is presented. It consists of the laser beam absorption within the processing zone, the melt ejection from the kerf and the resulting spatter formation above the part surface. Besides the model, the process boundaries and limitations are identified using empirical data. Addressing possible applications, the following samples of different industrial areas are introduced to show the potential of the process: Cutting of heat exchanger plates, cylinder head seals, and cathode/anode material for Li-Ion-Batteries. Furthermore, a concept and first results of the combined processing of remote cutting and welding with one laser and one scanner optics are presented.

New measurement techniques to study continuous wave (CW) laser-material interactions are emerging with the ability to monitor the evolving, spatial distribution of the state of the surface-gas boundary layer. A qualitative analysis of gas phase combustion plumes above the surface of laser irradiated fiberglass composites is developed from fast framing hyperspectral imagery observations. An imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (IFTS) operating in the mid-infrared (MWIR) with high framing rate has recently been developed at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in collaboration with Telops Inc. A 320 x 256 indium antimonide (InSb) focal plane array with spectral response from 1.5 - 5.5 μm is mated with a Michelson interferometer to achieve spectral resolutions as high as 0.25 cm^-1. The very fast 16- tap InSb array frames at 1.9 kHz for the full 320 x 256 frame size. The single pixel field of view of 0.3 mrad provides a spatial resolution of 1 mm at the minimum focal distance of 3 m. Painted and unpainted fiberglass composites are irradiated with a 1064 nm CW Nd:YAG laser for 60 s at 100 W in air at atmospheric pressure. Selective emission in the region of 2100 - 3200 cm^-1 is readily evident and is used to develop a time-dependent spatial map of both temperature and plume constituents. The time evolution of gas phase combustion products such as CO and CO₂ molecules are monitored, with a spectral resolution of 2 cm^-1. High-speed imagery is obtained using a low-pass filter for the interferograms, illustrating significant turbulent behavior during laser irradiation. Spatial brightness temperature maps exceed 600 K. Spatial variation in the ratio of [CO₂]/[CO] indicates an interplay between heterogeneous and homogeneous kinetics.

In-process monitoring and feedback control are fundamental actions for stable and good quality laser welding process. In particular, penetration depth is one of the most critical features to be monitored. In this research, overlap welding of stainless steel is investigated to stably reproduce a fixed penetration depth using both CO₂ and Nd:YAG lasers. Plasma electron temperatures of Fe(I) and Cr(I) are evaluated as in process monitoring using the measurement of intensities of emission lines with fast spectrometers. The sensor system is calibrated using a quantitative relationship between electron temperature and penetration depth in different welding conditions. Finally closed loop control of the weld penetration depth is implemented by acquiring the electron temperature value and by adjusting the laser power to maintain a pre-set penetration depth. A PI controller is successfully used to stabilize the electron temperature around the set point corresponding to the right penetration depth starting from a wrong value of any initial laser power different than the set point. Optical inspection of the weld surface and macroscopic analyses of cross sections verify the results obtained with the proposed closed-loop system based on a spectroscopic controller and confirms the reliability of our system.

We have developed an on-axis camera-based online sensor system for laser beam welding diagnostics that detects the thermal radiation in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral range between 1200 and 1700 nm. In addition to a sensor in the visible (VIS) range, our camera detects the thermal radiation of the weld pool more clearly, and it is also sensible to the radiation of the solidified weld seam. The NIR images are analyzed by real-time image processing. Features are extracted from the images and evaluated to characterize the welding process. Keyhole and weld pool analysis complement VIS diagnostics, whereas the observation of the weld seam and heat affected zone with an NIR camera allows online heat flux thermography. By this means we are able to detect bad joints in overlap weldings ("false friends") online during the welding process.

In industrial applications using high-brilliance lasers at power levels up to and exceeding 20 kW and similarly direct diode lasers of 10 kW, there is an increasing demand to continuously monitor component status even in passive components such as fiber-optic cables. With fiber-optic cables designed according to the European Automotive Industry fiber standard interface there is room for integrating active sensors inside the connectors. In this paper we present the integrated active sensors in the new Optoskand QD fiber-optic cable designed to handle extreme levels of power losses, and how these sensors can be employed in industrial manufacturing. The sensors include photo diodes for detection of scattered light inside the fiber connector, absolute temperature of the fiber connector, difference in temperature of incoming and outgoing cooling water, and humidity measurement inside the fiber connector. All these sensors are connected to the fiber interlock system, where interlock break enable functions can be activated when measured signals are higher than threshold levels. It is a very fast interlock break system as the control of the signals is integrated in the electronics inside the fiber connector. Also, since all signals can be logged it is possible to evaluate what happened inside the connector before the interlock break instance. The communication to the fiber-optic connectors is via a CAN interface. Thus it is straightforward to develop the existing laser host control to also control the CAN-messages from the QD sensors.

One critical component of a high brightness Multi-Kilowatt near infrared 2D laser cutting system is the beam delivery fiber and the connected processing head. Within this chain several optical free-space components contribute to a laser power induced thermal focus shift on the work piece resulting in a slower or even unstable cutting process. We present a novel processing head that allows for precise control of the focus diameter and position on the work piece by means of a simple, novel optical system. Further, we will report on the reduction of the laser power induced focus shift in diverse optical elements.

The continued advances in high power, high brightness solid state laser has necessitated new tools for use with laser material processing. Some of the challenges of higher power lasers have been met with Reflective Focusing Optic to combat Thermal focus shift and new fiber optic cables to more efficiently deliver the higher power. Conversely the improved brightness has led to new opportunities with patented dual core fibers, advances in remote scanner welding devices and calibration devices for them. This paper will explain recent advances in beam delivery and processing optics for high power, high brightness solid state lasers.

High Power (3kW to 20kW) 1um lasers can show problems related to thermal focus shift, optical contamination, and subsequent optical damage if not designed and maintained properly in production. Other issues are related to correct optical assembly and optic orientation in the beam delivery system. Even low to medium power lasers can have problems where the power density on the optics becomes excessive, especially where single mode lasers are employed. This paper discusses methods and hardware developed to minimize thermal focus shift in medium and high power beam delivery by first analyzing the standard issues and measuring improvements by the use of proper designs with reflective and transmissive systems by employing seals, active purge, optimized layouts, and direct-cooled optics.

High average laser power is required for industrial applications such as laser cutting and welding. However, system performance is often limited by the achievable beam quality and focal length stability, both of which are degraded by absorption in the transmissive components of the system. We explore in detail the behavior of uncoated and AR-coated surfaces of Suprasil 3001, Corning 7980, and Spectrosil 2000 fused silica with respect to both surface and bulk absorption in order to separate substrate effects from coating effects. Ion-beam sputtered AR coatings are shown to contribute < 0.3 ppm of absorption per coated surface regardless of substrate material, potentially allowing design flexibility in the selection of substrate materials at the system level.

The applicability of modern high-brightness solid-state laser sources for material processing purposes is limited by thermally induced effects in the beam guidance optics. These transient thermo-optical aberrations lead to a non-static focus shift and a deterioration of the beam quality. To counterbalance these aberrations, thermally self-compensated optical systems are proposed. The design for these optics is based on a combination of several elements that compensate for each other. Via thermo-mechanical FEM-simulations and the calculation of the resultant wavefront distortion, several multi-component systems are evaluated. In a first step, thermally compensated laser windows have been developed and characterized.

We fabricated a new type of multicore fiber using the PCVD process and stack-and-draw method. The fabrication process is described in detail in this work. The fiber core is composed with 91 GeO2-doped micro-rods arranged in the hexagon shape and the largest core diameter of the fabricated fibers is measured up to 50μm, very suitable for low loss splicing with the multimode fiber. For the fiber with 125μm glass diameter, the attenuation is measured only 3dB/km at 1060nm and lower than 10dB/km at 1550nm, the water-loss peak at 1383nm is about 110dB/km; the mode properties of our fiber were also measured, which show the fundamental mode characteristic with good Gaussian configuration. The large single mode area can deduce the nonlinear effect in the high power delivery. Our multicore fiber might have the potential application such as the delivery of high power, the multiparameter fiber sensor, etc. according to our design.

A system being able to in situ measure and control not simply the distance between the workpiece and the focusing optics, but the true focal position on the workpiece including the thermally induced focal shift in a laser processing head is presented. In order to achieve this, a bundle of astigmatic measurement beams is used following the same optical path as the welding beam. A camera and a software algorithm allow to keep the focal position constant within a range of 4 mm and with a resolution between 150 μm and 500 μm.

Friction stir welding is a relatively new joining technique. This technique, which is considered a derivative of the more common friction welding method, was developed mainly for aluminum and its alloys. In recent years, this method has been used to join various other alloys. FSW has many advantages, including the following: the welding procedure is relatively simple with no consumables or filler metal; joint edge preparation is not needed; oxide removal prior to welding is unnecessary; high joint strength has been achieved in aluminum and magnesium alloys; FSW can be used with alloys that cannot be fusion welded due to crack sensitivity. The drawbacks of FSW include the need for powerful fixtures to clamp the workpiece to the welding table, the high force needed to move the welding tool forward, the relatively high wear rate of the welding tool, and weld speeds in FSW are slower, which can lead to longer process times. To overcome these drawbacks, a fiber laser-assisted friction stir welding system was designed (FLAFSW). The system combined a conventional commercial friction machine and a fiber pumped laser system. The scope is to investigate the influence of the laser assistance on the weld quality. A number of different aluminum plates, which are still mentioned to be difficult to be joint as intermetallic phases appear during melting welding techniques, were used. The evaluation of quality was performed through analysis of appearance, mechanical and microstructure characterization of the weld.

The paper presents results of studies on Selective Laser Melting. SLM is an additive manufacturing technology which may be used to process almost all metallic materials in the form of powder. Types of energy emission sources, mainly fiber lasers and/or Nd:YAG laser with similar characteristics and the wavelength of 1,06 - 1,08 microns, are provided primarily for processing metallic powder materials with high absorption of laser radiation. The paper presents results of selected variable parameters (laser power, scanning time, scanning strategy) and fixed parameters such as the protective atmosphere (argon, nitrogen, helium), temperature, type and shape of the powder material. The thematic scope is very broad, so the work was focused on optimizing the process of selective laser micrometallurgy for producing fully dense parts. The density is closely linked with other two conditions: discontinuity of the microstructure (microcracks) and stability (repeatability) of the process. Materials used for the research were stainless steel 316L (AISI), tool steel H13 (AISI), and titanium alloy Ti6Al7Nb (ISO 5832-11). Studies were performed with a scanning electron microscope, a light microscopes, a confocal microscope and a μCT scanner.