What is a laser cutter and how does it work?

A laser cutting machine works by directing the highly concentrated energy of a laser beam onto the material, producing localised melting and separation of the workpiece. Depending on the details of the cutting technique, the laser may melt the material and blow the melted material away with an assisted air stream. Or it may directly transform the cut material from a solid form to a gas (sublimation) and remove the cut as a vapour. Laser cutters can cut structural and piping materials as well as thin sheets.

Laser cutters use three main types of lasers: CO2, neodymium and fibre laser systems. While the laser cutter types are all similar in construction, they differ in that each laser has a different power range and each laser cutter is best suited for certain material types and thicknesses. With CO2 cutters, cutting is done using electrically stimulated CO2. Neodymium or crystal laser cutters produce beams from Nd: YVO (neodymium-doped yttrium orthovanadate) and Nd: YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet). Finally, fibre optic cutters use glass fibres to cut the material. These lasers originate from so-called "penetrating lasers", which are then amplified by special optical fibres. Of these three types of lasers, CO2 lasers are the most popular because they can cut a wide variety of materials, are low-powered, and are reasonably priced.

Laser cutting machines are widely used in electronics, medicine, aircraft and transport. Since lasers are capable of precise cutting and finishing, they are mainly used for cutting metals such as tungsten, steel, aluminium, brass or nickel. Lasers are also used to cut wood, silicon, ceramics and other non-metals.