Uploaded January 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
All laser beams have divergent properties and that causes the peak INTENSITY of the beam to degrade with distance. INTENSITY is a vital requirement for efficient cutting. Thus a diverging beam reduces its ability to cut the more it diverges. If you can optically correct the divergence then you have a beam with constant cutting properties.. Sadly, lens theory tells us that you have to EXPAND the beam diameter to control its parallelism. That increased (blunter) beam is fine for engraving but degrades cutting ability. In this session, my optical engineering naivety allows me to ignore the theory and see if there is a practical way to collimate the beam with no loss of cutting ability.
All laser beams have divergent properties and that causes the peak INTENSITY of the beam to degrade with distance. INTENSITY is a vital requirement for efficient cutting. Thus a diverging beam reduces its ability to cut the more it diverges. If you can optically correct the divergence then you have a beam with constant cutting properties.. Sadly, lens theory tells us that you have to EXPAND the beam diameter to control its parallelism. That increased (blunter) beam is fine for engraving but degrades cutting ability. In this session, my optical engineering naivety allows me to ignore the theory and see if there is a practical way to collimate the beam with no loss of cutting ability.
