Can a laser powerful enough to cut(100w for example) be redirected using fiber optics ? What issues need to be considered?
To be clear it should retain the ability to cut after exiting the fiber.
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1$\begingroup$ The requirement is that the fiber can absorb sufficiently little energy from the laser so that it doesn't heat up too much. If your fiber is not good enough, you can always refrigerate it (not that it would be practical, though). $\endgroup$– DavidmhCommented Mar 28, 2014 at 8:26
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1$\begingroup$ If the beam is too powerful and the fiber is too long (e.g. a kilowatt traveling a kilometer), the beam will lose intensity due to stimulated Brillouin scattering. Normally there's no reason to bring a laser beam such a long distance ... except in the oil industry. foroenergy.com/technology $\endgroup$– Steve ByrnesCommented Mar 28, 2014 at 20:10
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Yes easily. Fiber-fed 5-10kW Nd-Yag lasers are commonly used for cutting metal in machine shops. Fibers are so transparent, especially when designed for a single wavelength laser, that the power loss and so heating in the fiber is very small. It's generally less than an optically fed laser where dirt accumulates on the lenses.
Many systems have a thin fiber wrapped around the main power delivery fiber with a small low power laser diode shining through it. If there is a fault in the main fiber, the high power laser beam will leak out and cut the thinner fiber. The loss of light in the wrapping fiber signals the controller to kill the power to the main laser.
answered Mar 28, 2014 at 8:23