2.5 kW Laser diode-pumped YAG laser and applications

A novel laser diode-pumped continuous wave YAG laser has been developed for material processing. A maximum laser output power of 2.8 kW was extracted from a laser resonator at an electric conversion efficiency of 11.7%. Fiber-optic cable power transmission with 0.3 mm core diameter fiber-optic cable is possible for the delivered laser power of 2.8 kW with delivery efficiency of 90%. The potential of laser diode-pumped YAG laser for welding applications was investigated experimentally. Welding using this laser system showed good performance.