Laser Heads
Definition: assemblies containing a mounted gain medium and means for pumping and cooling, or the complete optical parts of a laser, or assemblies for directing a laser beam to a workpiece
Alternative terms: pump chambers, processing heads
German: Laserköpfe, Verstärkermodule
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Author: Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta
The term laser head is used with completely different meanings:
- It can be a gain module (or laser module, pump chamber), i.e., an assembly containing a mounted gain medium, usually together with other parts for pumping and (often) cooling the medium. For pumping, a laser head can contain arc lamps or flash lamps, laser diodes, or a connection to a fiber-coupled pump source. A complete laser is obtained by placing a laser head in a resonator. Laser heads (without resonators) can often be purchased separately, so that different kinds of laser resonators can be built, depending on the specific demands.
- A laser head may also be an assembly containing the complete optical setup (with the laser resonator), possibly excluding the power supply and fiber-coupled pump diodes.
- In laser-based manufacturing, such as laser cutting, a laser head can be the assembly from which the laser beam exits toward the work piece. A laser cutting head (or other laser processing head) may not contain the laser source, but the focusing optics, a protection glass, and also additional facilities e.g. to direct a gas flow to the cutting zone. The light may enter the laser head via a high power optical fiber cable.
Suppliers
The RP Photonics Buyer's Guide contains 13 suppliers for laser heads. Among them:
RPMC Lasers
RPMC Lasers offers one of the widest wavelength selections of laser diode and DPSS heads available ranging from the UV through the IR. Our multimode and single mode laser modules are available in both fiber-coupled and free space configurations and are ideal for OEM integration into larger systems.
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See also: lasers, pump chambers, gain media, diode-pumped lasers, lamp-pumped lasers, laser cooling units
and other articles in the category lasers
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