jancleynen

Ok thank you all very much, I found a study from the University of Bern ("Laser microhole drilling using Q-switched radially and tangentially polarized beams") where they compare drilling speeds for radially and tangentially polarized beams. The conclusion: -Tangential polarization exhibited a significantly higher drilling speed compared to radial polarization. -We assume that the observed higher drilling rates utilizing tangential polarization are due to more energy being deposited at the bottom of a microhole. I wonder how I can generalise this to cutting (which is essentially a large collection of holes)? They also state this: Radial polarization might possibly enable more efficientlaser cutting (1,2) With: [1] V.G.Niziev, A.V.Nesterov, Influence of beam polarization on cutting efficiency, J. of Physics D (Appl.Phys.), Vol. 32, pp. 1455-1461, 1999 [2] T. Moser , H. Glur, V. Romano, F. Pigeon, O. Parriaux, M. A. Ahmed and T. Graf, Polarization-selective grating mirrors used in the generation of radial polarization, Applied Physics B, Vol. 80, No. 6, pp. 707-713, 2005 So they're not yet sure of it?

Oh well just one more question, is a beam off a laser always polarized?

Yes, I see what you mean. So my point doesn't hold. So I'll have to look up whether circular polarisation is better than linear and so forth for he different materials? Or would you think I can consider all metals as one family that has the same properties concerning this subject? Well then I'll have to continue the search. Thanks!

Hello everyone, As an engineering student at the University of Leuven (Belgium), I was given a task to determine the effect of the polarization of laser beams on the maximum cutting speed that can be reached with these beams. I haven't found anything that could help me out on the net, and specialized libraries only had more common books about lasers. So I'd be glad if someone could give me a little information on this subject. I was thinking in the direction of energy contained in polarized electromagnetic waves, but I suppose that's not the only factor... Thanks already, Jan