Open AccessThe structure, spatial, time and energy characteristics of copper vapor laser radiation (CVL) with optical resonators possessing high spatial selectivity have been investigated: with an unstable resonator (UR) with two convex mirrors and telescopic UR, and the conditions to form one-beam radiation with diffraction divergence and high stability of directivity pattern axis have been defined.
The most weighty and prospective application of CVL with UR with two convex mirrors is to use it as a driving oscillator (DO) in a copper vapor laser system (CVLS) of the type: driving oscillator – power amplifier (DO – PA) when diffraction beam radiating power and power density in a focused spot of 10-20 µm in diameter increases by 1-2 orders. Using industrial sealed-off active elements (AE) of “Kulon” series with an average radiation power of 15-25 W as PAs the peak power density increases up to 1011 W/cm 2 while an application of AE “Crystal” with 30- 50 W power gives up to 1012 W/cm 2 , which is sufficient for efficient and qualitative microprocessing of materials up to 1…2 mm thick. Such a CVLS has become the basis for creating up-to-date automated laser technological installations (ALTI) of “Karavella-1” and “Karavella-1M” types to manufacture precision parts of electronic engineering products (EEP) of metal up to 0.5 mm thick and of non-metal up to 1.5…1.8 mm thick.
CVL with a telescopic UR with an average power of 5-6 W diffraction radiation beam has become the basis for creating industrial ALTI “Karavella-2” and “Karavella-2M” to manufacture precision parts of electronic engineering products (EEP) of metal up to 0.3 mm thick and of non-metal up to 0.5 – 0.7 mm thick.
Practical work on all types of ALTI “Karavella” has shown a set of significant advantages of a laser way of pulsed microprocessing over the traditional ones, including electro-erosion machining: a wide range of structural metal and non-metal materials to be processed; the decrease of a number of operations and transitions by several times; the material saving when manufacturing and cutting the work piece from a sheet; high productivity of manufacturing parts of both simple and complicated configuration (by one order and higher); effective processing in air atmosphere (without blowing up technological gas); high precision of manufacturing parts with tolerances within 4-10 µm; small roughness of the cut surface (≤ 1…2 µm); small area of thermal influence (≤ 3…5 µm); the lack of lamination and metal micro-cracks (molybdenum, tungsten); high yield ratio (up to 100%); low labour-intensity of manufacturing and versatility of production tools.
The main conclusions drawn in the given paper regarding the results of CVL investigations are also true for other pulsed lasers having a short period of population inversion existence.