The Role of Fiber Optics in Laser Material Processing

The annual growth in the application of fiber optic beam delivery systems with high power Nd:YAG lasers is examined for the North American and European markets.

The basic principles and theory of operation for fiber optics is presented with particular reference to industrial laser material processing applications.

Four basic fiber optic building blocks are defined and examples of their application in a production environment are discussed.

A brief comparison between the fiber optic and conventional beam delivery designs is presented.