Development of BLUE IMPACT, a 450nm-wavelength light source for laser processing

BLUE IMPACTM, a fiber-coupled high brightness blue laser, has been developed. The blue light is effectively absorbed by copper, thus, BLUE IMPACT is capable of improving manufacturing quality of copper materials, and is expected to be used in the field of electronics and automotive industries. The product has high brightness with a laser output of 100W from a fiber with a core diameter of 100μm, which is shown by BPP value of 10mm x mrad. As a result of the experiment, it was found that the 100W type of BLUE IMPACT can be used for processing of copper foils and melting of copper powder. As one of the application, the 3D printer which can form an object from copper powder was developed with a NEDO project in Japan. Furthermore, we have improved BLUE IMPACT and it has achieved 200W output from the fiber with 100μm core diameter.