By Geoff Giordano In two days, the University of California, Berkeley, will throw a 99th birthday celebration for Charles Hard Townes, inventor of the laser and professor emeritus of physics at the school. As we celebrate this milestone and Townes’ remarkable career, it brings to mind one attendee from our […]
Laser Insights
Laser Safety Training Vital for Your Facility’s Success
By Geoff Giordano After 15 years with LIA, Education Director Gus Anibarro has plenty of stories to tell from his experiences teaching hundreds of laser safety officers (LSOs) and laser users how to safely use these powerful tools. He can tell you about the retinal damage and painful skin burns — and worse. He can […]
Powder-bed machine’s journey symbolizes N.J. firm’s path toward additive manufacturing
As RAPID 2014 wraps up today in Detroit, revisiting the journey of an SLM 280 powder-bed fusion machine purchased at last year’s event by Imperial Machine & Tool of Columbia, N.J., illustrates some of the motives driving U.S. manufacturers toward additive technology. Imperial is heavily involved in advanced manufacturing — particularly for the Department of […]
Sapphire Cutting with Pulsed Fiber Lasers
By Christoph Ruettimann, Noémie Dury and Markus Danner With almost 40 years of experience in precision processing of synthetic crystalline materials, Swiss laser manufacturer ROFIN-LASAG AG has developed a process for cutting sapphire glass, which is now increasingly used in mobile electronic devices and high-quality mechanical watches. Synthetic sapphire is a mono-crystalline aluminum oxide with […]
Non-Disruptive, Low Loss In-Line Laser Beam Monitoring System for Industrial Laser Processing
By Michael Scaggs and Gilbert Haas The BWA-MON (Beam Waist Analyzer MONitor) system is a “smart” focus head that provides “real-time” laser beam measurement, analysis and monitoring of low to very high power lasers in accordance with international standards ISO11146 and ISO13694 related to lasers without disrupting the laser beam in use and with minimal […]