Opportunities in laser cutting with direct diode laser configurations

This paper explores the opportunities associated with the use of well-designed direct diode laser configurations for cutting of metal sheets. Continuously improving diode stacking, and consequently greater brightness, allow the requirements for laser cutting to be met without the use of further brightness converters (diode-pumped solid state lasers). This contributes to a reduction in the number of optical components and increased energy efficiency. Furthermore, laser architecture related degrees of freedom for tailoring the wavelength, beam polarization and beam shape are instrumental to increase the cutting performance. Different stacking configurations, optical structures and related cutting strategies are discussed, with performance validation through experimental verification.