Laser Cutting

Laser technology company Coherent Inc. will acquire industrial laser maker Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc. for about $942 million, according to a joint news release issued by the two companies March 16. "This transaction is aligned with our strategy of increasing our scale and pursuing accretive growth opportunities," said Coherent President and CEO John Ambroseo. "The combination of Coherent and Rofin represents a unique opportunity to strengthen Coherent's position in materials processing. The addition of Rofin's complementary portfolio will build on Coherent's capabilities as a world leader in laser and photonics-based technology and solutions, and create meaningful value for our stockholders."

Electro Scientific Industries Inc. (ESI), Shanghai, China, recently introduced the Garnet adaptable laser micromachining platform for high-volume cutting, marking, drilling or engraving applications, according to a Feb. 16 company news release. The Garnet platform is said to compliment ESI's current micromachining portfolio delivering lower cost of ownership—specifically to meet the need for larger format materials among manufacturers in China.

FOBA Laser Marking + Engraving's Y-Series ytterbium fiber lasers are for marking parts made of metal, plastic and other materials. A scan head vision system for in-process imaging combines validation and verification prior to and directly after laser marking. The system's modular platform consists of nine compact, flexible, fiber marking lasers that offers a range of power from 2w to 50w and pulse widths from 1.5 to 200 nanoseconds.

MC Machinery Systems says the new eX-F Series fiber laser combines the best of both worlds: the top notch construction of the popular eX Series CO₂ lasers and the power and reliability of a Mitsubishi's finest fiber resonator.

Custom fabricated zinc sulfide (ZnS) optics that are water-clear with minimum scatter and provide high transmission capabilities across a broad wavelength spectrum for a variety of military applications are being introduced by Laser Research Optics.

Coherent Inc. announces new, higher power, higher brightness 780-830 nm and 975 nm diode laser components for industrial applications.

Laser-assisted machining helps manufacturers cut hard materials.

Coherent Inc. has expanded the company's fiber laser offering with an all new platform capable of delivering output powers to 4 kW and beyond.

A new generation of carbon monoxide (CO) lasers from Coherent Inc. promise enhanced processing characteristics for materials processing applications ranging from glass cutting and via drilling, to fractional skin resurfacing.

Though more than 30 percent revenue share of the global laser cutting machine market went to North America in 2014, a new market research report suggests that the Asia-Pacific market will make some significant gains over the next few years. The North American market remains the largest for laser cutting machines globally, but the Asia-Pacific market is expected to grow at a cumulative annual growth rate of 12.8 percent each year through 2020.

Optodyne Inc. has announced a new high performance and compact LICS-300H for the measurement of 3D volumetric positioning errors, including the 3 displacement errors, 6 straightness errors and 3 squareness errors.