Pulse Shaping for Micro Cutting Applications of Metals with Fiber Lasers

High power single mode fiber lasers are an excellent tool for micro cutting applications. In order to manage the heat input into the material most micro cutting applications require pulsed operation of the laser. Temporal pulse shaping is a proven and enabling technology for many laser welding applications with flash lamp pumped lasers where typical pulse lengths are in the order of 0.1 to 10 ms. The excellent controllability of diode pumped fiber lasers enables pulse shaping during the cutting process with a laser pulse length of typically less then 0.1 ms. For laser micro cutting applications a small kerf width with small HAZ and good surface finish defines the quality of the process. This paper shows the influence of the laser pulse shape on the cutting performance in stainless steel with diode pumped fiber lasers.