26.09.2023 • News • Additive manufacturing

Civan Lasers breaks green power world record

The laser manufacturer from Jerusalem has completed the development of a 500-W single-mode cw laser at 532 nm, marking a world record for such a laser type.

This green laser stands apart from others on the market because of its exceptional beam quality, a feature hard to attain with current laser technologies. While traditional lasers try to get high brightness by pushing power through a single crystal channel, risking damage over time, our laser employs the coherent beam combining (CBC) method. This approach combines multiple lasers into one coherent beam without the need to danger single crystal, ensuring longer-lasting and dependable performance.

500 watts single-mode cw laser operating at 532 nanometers (Source: Civan Laser)...

Green laser coherent beam combining diagram (Source: Civan Laser)

Coherent beam combining (CBC) brings a suite of advantages: it can produce high-power cw single-mode beams, offers scalability for even greater power levels, and introduces power modulation capabilities – a significant advancement given that 532 nm lasers typically require stable crystal temperatures. With CBC, this dependency is eliminated. Furthermore, CBC provides the versatility of delivering green with IR, paving the way for diverse material processing applications.

The laser was conceived and developed as part of the Eureka project “CBC-Green”, a collaborative effort involving Fraunhofer IWS, Siemens, and Thyssenkrupp. Following its development, the laser will be sent to Fraunhofer IWS. There, they will spearhead the process development for Siemens and Thyssenkrupp and further explore the laser's capabilities and potential applications.

The high-power single-mode continuous-wave (SM CW) green laser shows great promise in a range of material processing applications. These include welding highly reflective materials such as copper, welding in the semiconductor domain – particularly chip-to-wafer welding, which could serve as an alternative to traditional wire bonding processes – and metal additive manufacturing (AM) of copper. While these are some of the immediate applications identified, the scope of this laser technology is vast. Its potential stretches beyond what is currently known, suggesting that there are still uncharted territories and innovative applications awaiting discovery.

The trajectory of development for the green laser product is ongoing. Civan Lasers is intent on advancing the prototype by aiming to cut its size by half, dramatically lowering its cost, amplifying its power capabilities, and introducing a dynamic beam within the green laser.