INTEREST OF BEAM QUALITY IN MATERIALS TREATMENTS BY HIGH POWER LASER

The aim of the study is the increasing of performances of the YAG Lasers. For this, we use the principle established by Boquillon and Taisne : an X geometry of the resonator. In this case the number of emitted modes is lower than for the linear conception and the beam quality is greater. So, reached power density can be 7 times higher than for the classical cavity and consequently cutting speed can be about 2 times higher than for the linear one. Concerning welding, thick materials need a lot of energy and our system is not competitive. however it exists an interest for thin joining with an easely formed key hole and later a more important penetration.