Tip-tilt piezo platform scanner qualifies dynamic beam shaping for high laser power in cutting applications

Dynamic beam shaping raises the cutting speed and increases the cut edge quality. This has been shown several times by the authors in previous publications. This innovative technology offers a large potential in process improvements, especially for laser cutting of thick plates. Commonly used galvanometer driven scanners require large integration space and do have limited lifetime compared to piezo based solutions. Physik Instrumente GmbH & Co. KG and Fraunhofer IWS are developing a piezo based tip-tilt platform scanner, which achieves the necessary dynamic beam shaping functionality, but saves installation space by the factor of eight. The solution is small enough to substitute conventional deflection mirrors in the optical beam path and is therefore easy to integrate even into existing machines. The present paper introduces the advanced possibilities for the process using this new system technology and demonstrates a possible integration.