• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.178-185
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• 2008

Recent progress in high power lasers enables us to access a regime of high-energy-density and/or ultra-strong fields that was not accessible before, opening up a fundamentally new physical domain which includes laboratory astrophysics and laser nuclear physics. In this article, new applications of high-energy and ultra-intense laser will be reviewed.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.176-180
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• 2002

During the last two decades the laser beam has progressed from a sophisticated laboratory apparatus to an adaptable and viable industrial tool. Especially, in its welding mode, the laser offers high travel speed, low distortion, and narrow fusion and heat-affected zones (HAZ). The principal obstacle to selection of a laser processing method in production is its relatively high equipment cost and the natural unwillingness of production supervision to try something new until it is thoroughly proven. The major objective of this work is focused on the combined features of gas tungsten arc and a low-power cold laser beam. Although high-power laser beams have been combined with the plasma from a gas tungsten arc (GTA) torch for use in welding as early as 1980, recent work at the Ohio State University has employed a low power laser beam to initiate, direct, and concentrate a gas tungsten arcs. In this work, the laser beam from a 7 watts carbon monoxide laser was combined with electrical discharges from a short-pulsed capacitive discharge GTA welding power supply. When the low power CO laser beam passes through a special composition shielding gas, the CO molecules in the gas absorbs the radiation, and ionizes through a process known as non-equilibrium, vibration-vibration pumping. The resulting laser-induced plasma (LIP) was positioned between various configurations of electrodes. The high-voltage impulse applied to the electrodes forced rapid electrical breakdown between the electrodes. Electrical discharges between tungsten electrodes and aluminum sheet specimens followed the ionized path provided by LIP. The result was well focused melted spots.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Laser Processing Conference
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• 1998.11a
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• pp.0-0
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• 1998

-Part I- As market needs become more various, the production of smaller quantities of a wider variety of products becomes increasingly important. In addition, in order to meet demands for more efficient production, long-term unmanned factory operation is prevailing at a remarkable pace. Within this context, laser machines are gaining increasing popularity for use in applications such as cutting and welding metallic and ceramic materials. FANUC supplies four models of $CO_2$ laser oscillators with laser power ranging from 1.5㎾ to 6㎾ on an OEM basis to machine tool builders. However, FANUC has been requested to produce laser oscillators that allow more compact and lower-cost laser machines to be built. To meet such demands, FANUC has developed six models of Slab type YAG laser oscillators with output power ranging from 150W to 2㎾. These oscillators are designed mainly fur cutting and welding sheet metals. The oscillator has an exceptionally superior laser beam quality compared to conventional YAG laser oscillators, thus providing significantly improved machining capability. In addition, the laser beam of the oscillator can be efficiently transmitted through quartz optical fibers, enabling laser machines to be simplified and made more compact. This paper introduces the features of FANUC’s developed Slab type YAG laser oscillators and their applications. - Part II - All-solid-state lasers employing laser diodes (LD) as a source of pumping solid-state laser feature high efficiency, compactness, and high reliability. Thus, they are expected to provide a new generation of processing tools in various fields, especially in automobile and aircraft industries where great hopes are being placed on laser welding technology for steel plates and aluminum materials for which a significant growth in demand is expected. Also, in power plants, it is hoped that reliability and safety will be improved by using the laser welding technology. As in the above, the advent of high-power all-solid-state lasers may not only bring a great technological innovation to existing industry, but also create new industry. This is the background for this project, which has set its sights on the development of high-power, all-solid-state lasers with an average output of over 10㎾, an oscillation efficiency of over 20%, and a laser head volume of below 0.05㎥. FANUC Ltd. is responsible for the research and development of slab type lasers, and TOSHIBA Corp. far rod type lasers. By pumping slab type Nd: YAG crystal and by using quasi-continuous wave (QCW) type LD stacks, FANUC has already obtained an average output power of 1.7㎾, an optical conversion efficiency of 42%, and an electro-optical conversion efficiency of 16%. These conversion efficiencies are the best results the world has ever seen in the field of high-power all-solid-state lasers. TOSHIBA Corp. has also obtained an output power of 1.2㎾, an optical conversion efficiency of 30％, and an electro-optical conversion efficiency of 12%, by pumping the rod type Nd: YAG crystal by continuous wave (CW) type LD stacks. The laser power achieved by TOSHIBA Corp. is also a new world record in the field of rod type all-solid-state lasers. This report provides details of the above results and some information on future development plans.

• Proceedings of the Optical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1989.02a
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• pp.39-42
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• 1989

The limitations of high-power electrical lasers due to heating of the gas and the instability of the glow discharge can be alleviated by the flow of the lasing medium. In order to achieve high power and efficient laser, we are developing a fast-axial flow CO2 laser. We describe here the classification of gas-discharge CO2 lasers according to the cooling methods of the lasing medium and the design features of the fast-axial flow CO2 laser.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.17-23
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• 2015

Laser-gas metal arc hybrid welding has been considered as an alternative process of gas metal arc welding for offshore pipe laying. Fiber delivered high power lasers which enable deep penetration welding were recently developed but high power welding characteristics were not fully understood yet. In this study, the influence of shielding gas composition on welding phenomena in high power laser welding was investigated. Bead shapes, melt ejection and dropping were observed after autogenous laser welding with 100% Ar, Ar-20% $CO_2$, Ar-50% $CO_2$, and 100% $CO_2$ shielding gas. Process parameter window was widest with Ar-50% $CO_2$ shielding gas and the penetration was deepest with 100% $CO_2$ shielding gas. The melt dropping was not observed when Ar-50% $CO_2$ or 100% $CO_2$ shielding gas was supplied.

• Laser Solutions
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.12-16
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• 2009

The engineering ceramic is one of the materials advantageous in various conditions with high strength, endurance at high temperature, abrasion resistance and corrosion resistance, etc. However, due to high strength and high brittleness, ceramic incurs high costs and long time on finishing process required after sintering. So a process for obtaining wanted measurements of them has been studied using the high temperature which makes ceramics softened and heat affected recently. This study makes an estimate of laser-assisted machining (LAM) if an economically practical process for manufacturing precision silicon nitride ceramic parts using laser beam. In this study, mechanical properties of silicon nitride at high temperature were observed. And during the LAM, it was observed that cutting force and tool wear were reduced and oxidation of machined surface was increased according to a increase of laser power.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.7 s.172
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• pp.19-26
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• 2005

The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of process parameters, such as power of laser, cutting speed of laser and material thickness, on the practical cutting region and the kerfwidth fer the case of cutting of CSP IN sheet using high power Nd:YAC laser in continuous wave(CW) mode. In order to obtain the practical cutting region and the relationship between process parameters on the kerfwidth, several laser cutting experiments are carried out. The effective heat input is introduced to consider the influence of power and cutting speed of laser on the kerfwidth together. From the results of experiments, the allowable cutting region and the relationship between the effective heat input and kerfwidth fur the case of cutting of CSP 1N sheet using high power CW Nd:YAG laser have been obtained to improve the dimensionalaccuracyofthecutarea.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.491-498
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• 1996

The development of a compact two-wavelength Nd:YAG laser for dental and ENT applications is presented. The Nd:YAG resonator generates either 1.06$\mu$m or 1.32$\mu$m. The wavelength selection is made at the control panel. The Nd:YAG laser parameters at 1.06$\mu$m are ; the maximum pulse duration of 150$\mu$s, repetition rates of I-100Hz, and the maximum average power of 25W. At 1.32$\mu$m, the pulse duration is the same where the repetition rates and the maximum average power are I-30Hz and lOW respectively. High voltage power supply consists of a simmer module and two identical high voltage DC converters. In order to make a complete medical laser system, an optical fiber delivery unit, foot pedal and water spray handpiece are also developed. The wavelength selection is reliable since no movement of optical or mechanical components is required. The high voltage power supply is compact, easy to be maintained and applicable for other laser systems due to its modular design.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.32-39
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• 1991

A 200W pulsed Nd: YAG laser for fine welding was developed. The important laser parameters such as laser peak power, average power, pulse width, and pulse energy for welding were studied. In order to obtain the sufficient laser power density for welding, thermal lensing effects were analyzed and a laser resonator with laser beam divergence was designed. The power supply unit was designed to support up to 7kW input. The pulse control unit was developed using a GTO thyristor and could control over 100kW input power to obtain 3.5kW peak power laser. Also due to the GTO thyristor the pulse width could be varied continuously from 0.1 to 20 msec and maximum repetition rate was as high as 300pps.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.1026-1031
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• 2008

We report on the design and experimental results of a large diameter faraday rotator for the high-power laser system(KLF: Kaeri laser facility) that was completed in late 2007s at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. The design involves modelling the magnetic field of cylindrical coil with large diameter(110 mm). Magnetic field generation coil is designed by 6 layers using a rectangular wire with cross-sectional area $3{\times}5[mm^2]$. We obtain an isolation ratio for optical feedback of 35 dB at 1064 nm and magnetic field strengths ${\sim}25kG$. We expect that the design can be widely used optical isolators in high-power laser system.