Back to results
US 9,436,012 B2Granted
Method and apparatus for laser cutting
AssigneeHighcon Systems Ltd.
InventorLev Dvorkin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Method and system for laser cutting is disclosed. Using a novel dual-focus optical conversion unit. The dual-focus optical conversion unit may comprise a beam splitter and a convex mirror. The beam splitter may be insensitive to the polarization of an incident beam. The convex mirror may be placed beyond and parallel to the beam splitter, wherein the surface of the convex mirror may be coated with a reflective phase-retarder coating.
Claims48
A dual-focus optical conversion unit, comprising:
- a beam splitter (BS) that is placed at angle to an incident laser beam, and is adapted to split an incident beam into two beams having a similar polarization as the incident beam, a reflected beam and a transferred beam;
- and
- a convex mirror (CM) placed beyond and parallel to the BS, wherein the surface of the CM is coated with a reflective phase-retarder coating, and is placed substantially close to the BS;
- wherein the dual-focus optical conversion unit is configured to split the incident-laser beam into two beams, a R-beam reflected from the BS;
- and a D-beam that pass through the BS and is reflected and changed polarization by the coated surface of the CM and returns via the BS, wherein the R-beam and the D-beam have different polarizations and propagates along a substantial similar optical axis, wherein the R-beam and the D-beam differ in their divergence value, and wherein the power of the beam incident on the convex mirror (CM) is in the range of 20% to 50% of the power of the incident laser beam.
2 more elements
A laser cutting machine, comprising:
- a. a laser source that generates an incident laser beam;
- b. a dual-focus optical conversion unit that splits the incident laser beam into two beams, a R-beam and a D-beam, wherein the R-beam and a D-beam have different polarizations and propagates along a substantial similar optical axis, wherein the R-beam and a D-beam differ in their divergence value, the dual-focus optical conversion unit including a beam splitter (BS) and a convex mirror (CM), wherein the R-beam is reflected from the BS;
- and the D-beam passes through the BS and is reflected and changes polarization by a coated surface of the CM, and the power of the beam incident on the coated surface of the CM is in the range of 20% to 50% of the power of the incident laser beam;
- and
- c. a scanner that reflects the R-beam and a D-beam received from the dual-focus optical conversion device along a certain pattern through an objective lens toward a workpiece, wherein the objective lens focuses the R-beam and the D-beam at two different foci along the same optical axis.
2 more elements
A method for converting an incident laser beam into two beams, comprising:
- a. splitting an incident laser beam into two beams, a first beam and a second beam;
- b. reflecting the first beam along an optical axis while conserving the polarization and a similar divergence value of the incident beam;
- c. changing the polarization of the second beam using a coated surface of a convex mirror;
- and
- d. reflecting of the second beam with changed polarization while increasing the divergence value of this beam;
- wherein the reflected-changed-polarization-second beam and the reflected first beam propagates along a substantial similar optical axis, and wherein the power of the beam incident on the convex mirror is in the range of 20% to 50% of the power of the incident laser beam.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.