NON-IONIZING RADIATION DEVICES / DBR20043

FEB – JUN 2018 SESSION

FIBER LASER

Names : 1) Abu Hussin bin Abu Baker DBE 16251

2) Muhammad Shauqi bin Mohamad Rizal DBE 16268

3) Farabi Ashraf bin Mahzan DBE 16258

Class : Radiology 4A

Lecturer’s Name : Madam Rabiahtuladawiah binti Musa

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

No. Title Page

1 Introduction 3

2 Design of Fiber Laser 4-5

3 Applications of Fiber Laser 6-10

4 Fiber Laser’s Safety 11-12

5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Fiber Laser 13-15

6 Conclusion 16

7 References 17
 INTRODUCTION

Fiber optics are made possible by a principle of total refraction, resulting in guiding of
light inside a medium with higher index of refraction than surrounding medium. Swiss
physicist Jean-Daniel Colladon and French physicist Jacques Babinet conducted an
experiment of guiding light inside a thin stream of water in 1842, proving the principle
of total reflection. Unclad optical fibers were first used in 1930s as a medical
instrument used to look inside otherwise inaccessible parts of the body. Early fiber
optic communications were limited with attenuation inside an optical fiber. First
useful fibers for communications were made in 1970 and had a loss of . Modern
fibers have losses as low as 0.2dB/km. Fiber lasers are a subtype of solid-state
lasers. Optical fibers with different dopants inside core, mainly rare-earth metal ions,
serve as a gain media. Mirrors are needed to form an optical resonator. Dichroic
dielectric mirrors can be used in simple laboratory setups of fiber lasers but fiber
Bragg gratings are used in most industrial products. Fiber lasers are mostly pumped
by one or several diode lasers. Fiber lasers have been demonstrated to span
wavelengths of light from below to above . Sensitivity to environment disturbances is
minimal due to compact in-fiber design resulting in high reliability. Fiber lasers are
used in many different applications. High power continuous-wave single-mode fiber
lasers are used for laser cutting and welding of various metals. Q-switched pulsed
lasers are used for maximum precision of drilling or cutting thin metal sheets.
Medical applications in surgery, cosmetic and aesthetic medicine use both
continuous wave and pulsed mode-locked and Q-switched lasers.
 DESIGN OF FIBER LASER

A fiber laser or fibre laser is a laser in which the active gain medium is an optical
fiber doped with rare-earth elements such as erbium, ytterbium, neodymium,
dysprosium, praseodymium, thulium and holmium. They are related to doped fiber
amplifiers, which provide light amplification without lasing. Unlike most other types of
lasers, the laser cavity in fiber lasers is constructed monolithically by fusion splicing
different types of fiber; fiber Bragg gratings replace conventional dielectric mirrors to
provide optical feedback. Another type is the single longitudinal mode operation of
ultra narrow distributed feedback lasers (DFB) where a phase-shifted Bragg grating
overlaps the gain medium. Fiber lasers are pumped by semiconductor laser diodes
or by other fiber lasers.

Diagram 2.1 Design of fiber laser

Doped fiber

Doping is a process of adding an impurity to (a semiconductor) to produce a desired

electrical characteristic. This section of fiber is doped with “ytterbium” atoms. When
the electron pumps through the doped fiber, it will create a monolithic event.
Monolithic means that once the light is in the fiber, it stays in the fiber end to end.
The length of the doped fiber is important to determine how much of the pump light is
absorbed which is called “absorption length. The absorption of length is the
combination of length and the amount of doping.
 Diagram 2.2 The design which
consists of doped fiber

The Fused Biconical Taper Process

A fused coupler basically consists of two, parallel optical fibers that have been
twisted, stretched and fused together so that their cores are very close to each other.
This forms a Coupling Region as shown in Figure 1 below. The length of this
Coupling Region, L, determines the coupling ratio from one fiber to the other. During
the manufacturing process, light is launched into an input port, P, and the output
power from each output port is carefully monitored. When the desired coupling ratio
is achieved, the fully automated manufacturing process is stopped. The resulting
coupler is essentially one fiber with two cores that are very near to one another. This
process is known as the Fused Biconical Taper (FBT) process.

Diagram 2.3 Fused biconical taper

process
 APPLICATIONS OF FIBER LASER

Fiber laser is a flexible, adaptable and versatile piece of machinery that can be used
for a variety of fiber laser applications. The way they work means that they offer a
huge level of control to their users over beam intensity, duration, length and heat
output. This means that one single fiber laser setup can be used for multiple
applications and processes. For this reason, fiber lasers are suitable and
convenience for many different applications. Here are the lists and explanation of the
fiber laser’s application.

Laser marking

Laser marking is the process where a material is marked using a laser beam. It has
close similarities to laser engraving and laser ablation, but the difference is the laser
marking left only marks at the surface level.

Laser cutting

The laser cutting process is used to powerfully cut through a material. Many
industries may have traditionally used a blade cutter to achieve their cutting goals
but the obvious core advantage here is that a laser makes no contact with the
material, meaning there are no expensive cutting discs to replace and the machine
does not have to experience any downtime to replace other parts.

Figure3.1 Laser cutting in steel craft

manufacturing
Laser welding

As with many of these fiber laser processes, the clue is in the name here, and this
laser process is used to weld two materials together. You will most often find that the
materials being welded together are metals, but they can also be dissimilar metals
too; metals which don’t possess the same qualities. This is especially useful in
industrial sectors, where a wide ranging number of metals are used.

Figure 3.2 Laser welding in steel

manufacturing

Laser drilling

As with laser cutting, the laser drilling process replaces standard drilling tools to
instead help drill holes or dents using a powerful fiber laser beam instead.

Figure 3.3 Laser drilling

Laser engraving

Laser engraving, as explained above, is similar to that of laser marking. The

difference here is that the mark, or engraving, is at a much deeper level, making it
more useful for industries such as the jewellery industry.

Laser ablation

As already touched upon, laser ablation bears similarities to laser engraving and
laser marking in the way that the process is complete, but the primary aim here is not
to leave an engraving or a mark. Instead, the aim is to melt off the top surface layer
of a material, to reveal the surface layers below.

Figure 3.4 Laser ablation process

Additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing is a particularly useful process that is essentially 3D printing.

Utilised with CAD software, all manner of objects can be efficiently and reliably 3D
printed. Fiber lasers are becoming increasingly more widespread in Metal Additive
Manufacturing where complex and reliable parts can be quickly manufactured.

Laser cleaning

The fiber laser cleaning process is extremely similar to that of laser ablation as it
involves the melting of a surface layer to reveal the layers beneath. It is sometimes
used at a deeper level to remove the whole entire upper layer of a material, but the
focus here is simply on cleaning a material.

Figure 3.5 Laser cleaning on rusted

iron material

Medicine

Medicine is one of the most important scientific fields, and fiber lasers have many
uses for this field, such as being used in medical technologies as they allow for much
more accurate measurements, diagnosis, and treatments. One such device is an
endoscope, which can be used to look inside a body cavity or organ. Another useful
medical device using fiber lasers is handheld sensors, which can be used quickly
and reliably to provide an efficient brain scan diagnosis to determine if there is
bleeding within the brain, which can be crucial in areas where medical equipment is
scarce, such as on a battlefield or high up a ski slope.

Metrology

Metrology is the science of measurement, both theoretical and practical. Fiber lasers
are used to produce femtosecond frequency combs, which are spectrums consisting
of equally spaced elements, and are useful for measuring both in metrology, as well
as general research. One such realistic example for a frequency comb would be as
an atomic clock for future-generation GPS satellites that give a much finer position
resolution on the ground. Not only will this help someone to know exactly where they
are on the street, but for science, it could be much more beneficial; for example, it
could be implemented into automated equipment so that it knows exactly where it is
and where it needs to go based on GPS measurements.

Spectroscopy

Spectroscopy is a branch of science that deals with the investigation and

measurement of the spectra that is produced when a particular type of matter
interacts with or emits electromagnetic radiation. Types of spectroscopy that can be
completed using a fiber laser are a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, which is
a process that causes atomic emission, and a resolved fluorescence spectroscopy,
which is a process for analysing fluorescence from a given sample. The frequency
combs mentioned above can also be used for ultra-precise spectroscopy, which is
useful for something like astronomy observations. As well as uses for metrology and
spectroscopy, frequency combs are also useful for microwave generation and
optical-waveform measurement.

Military

The military weapons, equipment, and vehicles that are used today come from
scientific research, and there have been experiments conducted in recent years to
incorporate fiber laser technology into military uses. For example, once confined to
the realms of science fiction in films and television, there have been numerous laser
weapon prototypes in recent years which use optical fiber lasers due to their cheap,
robust and portable nature.

Product Labelling, Traceability, and Plagiarism

Product labelling, traceability, and plagiarism are widely used in the medical field for
a variety of different reasons, and it’s important that this information is accurate and
safe. A fiber laser beam can be used to mark tempered colours in metal or make
colour changes in plastic without changing the surface. This means that sterilisation
can be easily enabled at high temperatures. As we can see, fiber lasers have a large
number of scientific uses for a range of different functions, helping in biology,
chemistry, physics, astronomy, medicine, and defence. Their reliable, efficient and
cost-effective nature make them the perfect laser solution for the field of science,
and it is likely that we’ll see the technology integrated further and further into various
fields of science over the coming years.
 FIBER LASER’S SAFETY

When operating and performing maintenance on the fiber laser, it is important to

follow the safety and precautions to keep operator or patient safe and the machine
operating properly and efficiently. Before conducting the operation of the machine:-

 Be sure to read and understand all the manufacturer instructions to ensure

optimal operation and reduce the risk of making an error that would cause
harm to the machine.
 Make sure that the machine is not currently in operation when the user wants
to begin any type of maintenance on a fiber laser and check all power
sources.
 Be sure that the user has taken every necessary precaution in powering down
the machine before beginning maintenance.
 Always use safety glasses as well as all other recommended safety gear and
mechanisms. This is an essential part of performing maintenance or using any
machine in production at all times.
 Make sure the chiller is running at all times prior to the laser being turned on.
 Do not cut on anything with the doors open.
 Do not mishandle or drop any components of the fiber laser.
 Do not bend the fiber optic cable or coil it too tightly.
 Do not remove the fiber optic cable from the laser head.
 When handling optics use appropriate tools and cleaning processes. Do not
touch lenses with bare hands.
 Only one operator at a time should center the nozzle to avoid injury. No one
should be at the control panel while the operator is physically handling the
nozzle.
 Make sure all objects and people are clear of the table and laser cabinet
during material handling (while the table is in operation).
 Make sure the fiber laser has a remote interlock connector (RIC) built into it.
 Make sure there is an adequate conformity to protective housing requirements
for delivery fiber. Protective housings must prevent human access to any and
all laser radiation that is not necessary to the function of the product.
 Enclose the entire fiber path inside the system enclosure (thus the outer
housing acts as the second layer of fiber protection).
 Create an active-sensing circuit to detect fiber breakage.
 Encase the fiber-optic cable in a metal jacket to prevent fiber damage or
access to laser light.
 Use safety mats to protect people inside hazard zones.
 Use people counters–devices that count the number of persons entering or
leaving a laser room.
 Make sure to monitor the usage of high peak powers of ultrafast lasers as it
can be hazardous to personal protective equipment intended for conventional
laser sources.
 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF FIBER LASER

As we all know, there are many applications of fiber laser which ease the human’s
productivity and economy. Besides that, there are also advantages and
disadvantages coming out from the fiber laser itself. Below are the examples for the
fiber laser’s advantages and disadvantages.

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
 High Power: ease of  Pulse pedestals from
cooling in long fiber non-ideal optical
 High Stability: spliced spectrum for higher
waveguiding fibers energy pulses
 High Reliability: operate  Undesired nonlinear
24/7 for decades optical effects at high
 Lower total cost of pulse energy, such as
ownership self-phase modulation
 Low jitter and low and Raman scattering.
amplitude noise  Only a small range of
 Compact form factor wavelengths is
 Turn-key operation available. Primarily

 Immune to tough useable for metals.

environmental changes Non-metals generally

 A very stable beam for cannot be processed.

power, mode and pulse UV wavelengths not

shape. available.

 Wide dynamic range  The lowest cost Yb FL

with the beam quality is not eye safe and

basically constant requires special

throughout the power glasses. The “eye

range. safe” Er FL is as good

 High “TV set” reliability: as the CO2 however in

 run for 10,000’s of hours industrial Class 4
without service. environments (no
 High efficiency. enclosure e.g. typical
 Ruggedness. sheet metal cutters.)
 Flexible fiber beam the Er FL will still
delivery. require special glasses
 Small size. to be worn anywhere

 Application can be within 100 feet or more

located 100’s of meters of the laser.

from the laser.  Er FL requires 2X the

 Easily switched. diodes for the same

 Initial metal cutting tests power thus higher cost

indicate the fiber laser for an “eye safe” FL.

can cut thin metals (8  Limited pulse power.

mm or less) with 1/3 the Single mode fiber limit

power at the same at a 20 kW peak

speed thus potentially although there are

offsetting the FL higher technologies such as

$/Watt. photonics crystal fibers

that may change this.
 Little energy storage
compared to rod type
lasers. Q switching for
high pulse power is
difficult.
 Gated pulsing speed
limited in standard
configurations of 10 to
100 kHz.
 Fiber lasers are
difficult to repair in the
field and must be
shipped back to the
 manufacturer for
rebuild.
 Not the most cost
effective technology
for many applications.
 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the fiber laser is essential for human uses in daily life. The fiber laser
application covers in many aspects especially in medicine, military, metal industries
and many more. The development of fiber laser is much more complicated than any
other laser but it gives more advantages in human application. The advantages of
the fiber laser also plays an important role in choosing the best machinery for the
suitable applications. In general each application needs to be evaluated for
determining what the best laser is depending on wavelength, BPP, peak power,
pulse length, flexibility, maintainability, initial cost, operating cost, etc. The best laser
for a given application may change over time and this fast improving technology
must be continually evaluated.
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