Laser shaping and optical power limiting of pulsed Laguerre–Gaussian laser beams of high-order radial modes in fullerene C60

We study the strong nonlinear optical dynamics of nanosecond pulsed Laguerre–Gaussian laser beams of high-order radial modes with zero orbital angular momentum propagating in the fullerene C60molecular medium. It is found that the spatiotemporal profile of the incident pulsed Laguerre–Gaussian laser beam is strongly reshaped during its propagation in the C60molecular medium. The centrosymmetric temporal profile of the incident pulse gradually evolves into a noncentrosymmetric meniscus shape, and the on-axis pulse duration is clearly depressed. Furthermore, the field intensity is distinctly attenuated due to the field-intensity-dependent reverse saturable absorption, and clear optical power limiting behavior is observed for different orders of the input pulsed Laguerre–Gaussian laser beams before the takeover of the saturation effect;the lower the order of the Laguerre–Gaussian beam, the lower the energy transmittance.

Formation, microstructure and mechanical properties of double-sided laser beam welded Ti-6Al-4V T-joint

The T-joints of Ti?6Al?4V alloy were manufactured by double-sided synchronized laser beam welding with the homologous filler wire. The formation, microstructure and mechanical properties of welded joints as well as the correlations of each other were investigated. The results indicate that the quality of weld seams is good without defects such as discontinuity, beading, visible cracks or porosity, which is linked to the steady molten pool behavior and droplet transition. The morphologies of the heat affected zone (HAZ) located on the skin and stringer are disparate. The microstructure of the HAZ and fusion zone (FZ) is mainly comprised of acicular martensiticα′ phases. The microhardness of the HAZ and FZ is higher than that of the base metal (BM) and reaches a maximum value at the HAZ near FZ on the stringer. The tensile specimens along the skin and stringer fractured at the BM with ductile fracture surfaces.

Liquation cracking in laser beam welded joint of ZK60 magnesium alloy

The ZK60 magnesium alloy plates were welded by laser beam welding (LBW) and the microstructures in the partially melted zone (PMZ) of welded joints were investigated. For the as-cast alloy, the eutectoid mixtures along grain boundaries (GBs) in the PMZ are liquefied during welding, and their re-solidified materials present hypoeutectic characters, which lead to more severe segregation of the Zn element along GBs, and thus enhance the cracking tendency of the PMZ. The main reasons for liquation cracking of PMZ are described as that the absence of liquid at the terminal stage of solidification leads to the occurrence of shrinkage cavities in PMZ, from which liquation cracking initiates, and propagates along the weakened GBs under the tensile stress originating from solidification shrinkage and thermal contraction. Lower heat input can reduce the cracking tendency, and the plastic processing such as rolling also contributes to the mitigation of PMZ liquation cracking by reducing the size of eutectoid phases and changing their distribution in the base metal.

Novel Method for Spatial Angle Measurement Based on Rotating Planar Laser Beams

Spatial angle measurement, especially the measurement of horizontal and vertical angle, is a basic method used for industrial large-scale coordinate measurement. As main equipments in use, both theodolites and laser trackers can provide very high accuracy for spatial angle measurement. However, their industrial applications are limited by low level of automation and poor parallelism. For the purpose of improving measurement efficiency, a lot of studies have been conducted and several alternative methods have been proposed. Unfortunately, all these means are either low precision or too expensive. In this paper, a novel method of spatial angle measurement based on two rotating planar laser beams is proposed and demonstrated. Photoelectric receivers placed on measured points are used to receive the rotating planner laser signals transmitted by laser transmitters. The scanning time intervals of laser planes were measured, and then measured point＇s horizontal/vertical angles can be calculated. Laser plane＇s angle parameters are utilized to establish the abstract geometric model of transmitter. Calculating formulas of receiver＇s horizontal/vertical angles have been derived. Measurement equations＇ solvability conditions and judgment method of imaginary solutions are also presented after analyzing. Proposed method for spatial angle measurement is experimentally verified through a platform consisting of one laser transmitter and one optical receiver. The transmitters used in new method are only responsible for providing rotating light plane signals carrying angle information. Receivers automatically measure scanning time of laser planes and upload data to the workstation to calculate horizontal angle and vertical angle. Simultaneous measurement of multiple receivers can be realized since there is no human intervention in measurement process .Spatial angle measurement result indicates that the repeatable accuracy of new method is better than 10＂. Proposed method can improve measurement＇s automation degree and speed while ensuring measurement accuracy.

INVESTIGATION OF LASER BEAM WELDING PROCESS OF AZ61 MAGNESIUM-BASED ALLOY

Laser welling process of AZ61 magnesium alloys is investigated using a special CO2 laser experimental system. The effect of processing parameters including laser power, welling speed, and protection gas flow at the top and bottom is researched. The results show that an ideal well bead can be formed by choosing the processing parameters properly. An optimized parameter range is obtained by a large number of experiments. Among them, laser power and welling speed are the two main parameters that determine the well width and dimensions. The protect gas flow rate has a slight effect on the well width, but it directly effects the surface color of the well. The test results for typical welds indicate that the microhardness and tensile strength of the well zone are better than that of the base metal A fine-grained well region has been observed and no obvious heat-affected zone is found. The well zone mainly consists of small α-Mg phase, （α ＋ Al12Mg17）, and other eutectic phases. The small grains and the eutectic phases in the joint are believed to play an important role in the increase of the strength of wells for AZ61 magnesium alloys.

Microstructure and high-temperature mechanical properties of laser beam welded TC4/TA15 dissimilar titanium alloy joints

The microstructure evolution and high-temperature mechanical properties of laser beam welded TC4/TA15 dissimilar titanium alloy joints under different welding parameters were studied.The results show that the weld fusion zone of TC4/TA15 dissimilar welded joints consists of coarsenedβcolumnar crystals that contain mainly acicularα’martensite.The heat affected zone is composed of the initialαphase and the transformedβstructure,and the width of heat affected zone on the TA15 side is narrower than that on the TC4 side.With increasing temperature,the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the TC4/TA15 dissimilar welded joints decrease and the highest plastic deformation is obtained at 800°C.The tensile strength of the dissimilar joints with different welding parameters and base material satisfies the following relation(from high to low):TA15 base material>dissimilar joints>TC4 base material.The microhardness of a cross-section of the TC4/TA15 dissimilar joints reaches a maximum at the centre of the weld and is reduced globally after heat treatment,but the microhardness distribution is not changed.An elevated temperature tensile fracture of the dissimilar joints is located on the side of the TC4 base material.Necking occurs during the tensile tests and the fracture characteristics are typical when ductility is present in the material.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of laser beam welded TC4/TA15 dissimilar joints

The microstructure and mechanical properties of laser beam welded dissimilar joints in TC4 and TA15 titanium alloyswere investigated. The results showed that the coarse columnar grains containing a large amount of acicular α and martensite α′ werepresent in the fusion zone (FZ), some residual α phases and martensite structure were formed in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) onTC4 side, and bulk equiaxed α phase of the HAZ was on TA15 side. An asymmetrical microhardness profile across the dissimilarjoint was observed with the highest microhardness in the FZ and the lowest microhardness in TA15 BM. The orders of yield strengthand ultimate tensile strength were as follows: TC4 BM > TC4/TC4 similar joint > TA15 BM > TA15/TA15 similar joint > TC4/TA15dissimilar joint, and increased while hardening capacity and strain hardening exponent decreased with increasing strain rate from1×10?4 s?1 to 1×10?2 s?1. The TC4/TA15 dissimilar joints failed in the TA15 BM, and had characteristics of ductile fracture atdifferent strain rates.

Effect of shielding gas and defocusing on porosity during laser beam welding of 7A52 alloy

Laser beam welding is used to fabricate the 7A52 aluminum alloy plates.Effects of shielding gas and defocusing on porosities are investigated.Porosities are divided into hydrogen porosities and keyhole-induced porosities.With the increasing flow rate of the front shielding gas,the porosity ratio firstly decreases,then increases.The porosity ratio is lowest under the flow rate of 25 L/min.When the flow rate is 30 L/min,the porosity ratio is higher because the large flow rate can affect the stability of the keyhole.The porosity ratio is also higher when the flow rate is less than 25 L/min because the protection is weakened.With the increase of the defocusing,the porosity ratio firstly decreases,then increases.When the defocusing is-2 mm,the porosity ratio is lowest.When the defocusing is more than 0 mm or less than-4 mm,the porosity ratio is higher due to the movement of the instable keyhole.

Effects of laser beam welding parameters on mechanical properties and microstructure of AZ31B magnesium alloy

The effects of laser beam welding process parameters such as laser power,welding speed and focal position on mechanical properties and microstructure of AZ31B magnesium alloy were studied.Nine joints were fabricated using different levels of laser power,welding speed and focal position.Tensile properties of the welded joints were evaluated and correlated with the weld zone microstructure and hardness.It is found that the joints fabricated using a laser power of 2 500 W,welding speed of 5.5 m/min and focal position of-1.5 mm yield superior tensile properties compared with the other joints.The formation of very fine grains in weld region,higher fusion zone hardness and uniformly distributed finer precipitates are the main reasons for superior tensile properties of these joints.

Effects of Powder Feeding Rate on Interaction between Laser Beam and Powder Streamin Laser Cladding Process

A theoretical model was presented to calculate the laser intensity distribution and the particle temperatures at different sites of the workpiece in the laser cladding process. By using this model, the effects of the powder feeding rate on the laser intensity distribution and the particle temperatures were investigated, the calculated results under the condition of different injection angles were also plotted. It is shown that with increasing the injection angle, the laser intensity distributions are similar but the peak value of the laser intensity decreases. Simultaneously, the peak value of the particle temperature increases and the distribution of the particle temperatures gets central symmetrical gradually. These tests results should be considered in model of laser cladding due to their subtle effects on the dynamic processes in laser molten pool.

Effect of post-weld heat treatment on microstructure and properties of Ti-23Al-17Nb alloy laser beam welding joints

The mechanical properties of Ti-23Al-17Nb (mole fraction,%) laser beam welding alloy joint at room temperature are comparable to that of the base materials.However,the strength and ductility of the as-welded joint deteriorate seriously after high temperature circulation.The effect of post-welded heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the joint was investigated.The heat treatment was taken at 980 ℃ for 1.5 h,then furnace cooling and air cooling were performed separately.The results indicate that proper post-welded heat treatment improves the ductility of the joint at high temperature.

Joint performance of CO_2 laser beam welding 5083-H321 aluminum alloy

Laser beam welding of aluminum alloys is expected to offer good mechanical properties of welded joints. In this experimental work reported, CO2 laser beam autogenoas welding and wire feed welding are conducted on 4 mm thick 5083- H321 aluminum alloy sheets at different welding variables. The mechanical properties and microstructure characteristics of the welds are evaluated through tensile tests, micro-hardness tests, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. Experimental results indicate that both the tensile strength and hardness of laser beam welds are affected by the constitution of filler material, except the yield strength. The soften region of laser beam welds is not in the heat-affected zone （ HAZ ）. The tensile fracture of laser beam welded specimens takes place in the weld zone and close to the weld boundary because of different filler materials. Some pores are found on the fracture face, including hydrogen porosities and blow holes, but these pores have no influence on the tensile strength of laser beam welds. Tensile strength values of laser beam welds with filler wire are up to 345.57 MPa, 93% of base material values, and yield strengths of laser beam welds are equivalent to those of base metal （264. 50 MPa）.

Superplastic formability of Ti-6Al-4V butt-welded plate by laser beam welding

The superplasticity of Ti-6Al-4V butt-welded plates by laser beam welding(LBW)was studied in virtue of hot tensile tests and superplastic bulging tests.Furthermore,microstructural evolution of weld metal upon superplastic forming was systematically analyzed via metallographical tests and scanning electron microscope(SEM).The relation between the microstructure of weld metal and its superplastic ability was discussed.The experimental results show that Ti-6Al-4V butt-welded plates by LBW possess superplasticity.The maximum elongation is up to 154%and the maximum bulge height can be up to 1.81 times the internal radius of the female die.There is an optimum value of the bulge height for bulging gas pressure.

Calibration of laser beam direction based on monocular vision

In the laser displacement sensors measurement system,the laser beam direction is an important parameter.Particularly,the azimuth and pitch angles are the most important parameters to a laser beam.In this paper,based on monocular vision,a laser beam direction measurement method is proposed.First,place the charge coupled device(CCD)camera above the base plane,and adjust and fix the camera position so that the optical axis is nearly perpendicular to the base plane.The monocular vision localization model is established by using circular aperture calibration board.Then the laser beam generating device is placed and maintained on the base plane at fixed position.At the same time a special target block is placed on the base plane so that the laser beam can project to the special target and form a laser spot.The CCD camera placed above the base plane can acquire the laser spot and the image of the target block clearly,so the two-dimensional(2D)image coordinate of the centroid of the laser spot can be extracted by correlation algorithm.The target is moved at an equal distance along the laser beam direction,and the spots and target images of each moving under the current position are collected by the CCD camera.By using the relevant transformation formula and combining the intrinsic parameters of the target block,the2D coordinates of the gravity center of the spot are converted to the three-dimensional(3D)coordinate in the base plane.Because of the moving of the target,the3D coordinates of the gravity center of the laser spot at different positions are obtained,and these3D coordinates are synthesized into a space straight line to represent the laser beam to be measured.In the experiment,the target parameters are measured by high-precision instruments,and the calibration parameters of the camera are calibrated by a high-precision calibration board to establish the corresponding positioning model.The measurement accuracy is mainly guaranteed by the monocular vision positioning accuracy and the gravity center extraction accuracy.The experimental results show the maximum error of the angle between laser beams reaches to0.04°and the maximum error of beam pitch angle reaches to0.02°.

Mechanism of laser beam welding for SiC_P/6063Al composite

The laser beam welding technique was used to process SiCparticles/6063Al alloy matrix composite, the in- fluence of laserpower and welding speed on the properties of joint was studied.Decreasing the laser beam power with same welding speed can make thequantity and size of Al_4C_3 decreased, and the ineractive mechanismof the reinforcing particles and the matrix in the joint and thecauses for joint strength reduction were analyzed. Increasing weldingspeed properly can improve the distribution of energy and restrainthe interfacial reaction in the molten pool, an measures for impovingwere proposed.

PREPARATION OF ULTRAFINE POWDER OF Fe AND ZrO_2 WITH METASTABLE PHASES BY HIGH POWER LASER BEAMS

The radiation of material surface by high intensity laser beams is used to produce the uhrafine powder of pure Fe and ZrO_2.The morphology,size and phases of the powder were examined by X-ray diffraetometer,scanning electron microscopy as well as transmission electron microscopy.In pure Fe a considerable quantity of γ-phase was found in the powder.In ZrO_2 powder,instead of stable phase,two metastable phases appeared.

Effects of laser beam divergence angle on airborne LIDAR positioning errors

The influence of laser beam divergence angle on the positioning accuracy of scanning airborne light detection and ranging （LIDAR） is analyzed and simulated. Based on the data process and positioning principle of airborne LIDAR, the errors from pulse broadening induced by laser beam di vergence angle are modeled and qualitatively analyzed for different terrain surfaces. Simulated results of positioning errors and suggestions to reduce them are given for the flat surface, the downhill of slope surface, and the uphill surface.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of laser beam welding 6061 aluminum alloy with different states

With the diversification of manufacture methods, joining the same materials with different states becomes indispensable in practical application. In present work, 6061 aluminum alloys with different states were welded by laser beam welding （LBW）. The microstructures of welded joint, before and after heat treating, were investigated. The mechanical properties, such as the tensile properties and microhardness , were tested. And the fracture characteristic was observed by means of scanning electron microscope （SEM）. The results show that the 6061 aluminum alloys have superior weldability and the microstructures are different significantly in different states. Besides, the grain boundaries of the joint microstructures become unclear after the heat treating. The strength and the elongations of welded joints could reach to those of the base metal. The tensile fracture occurs in the fusion zone and near 6061-0 alloy. And the fracture presents ductile rupture. Therefore, the LBW is an effective method for 6061 aluminum alloy.

Phase Control of Transient Optical Properties of Double Coupled Quantum-Dot Nanostructure via Gaussian Laser Beams

We theoretically analyze the transient properties of a probe field absorption and dispersion in a coupled semiconductor double-quantum-dot nanostructure.We show that in the presence of the Gaussian laser beams,absorption and dispersion of the probe field can be dramatically influenced by the relative phase between applied fields and intensity of the Gaussian laser beams.Transient and steady-state behaviors of the probe field absorption and dispersion are discussed to estimate the required switching time.The estimated range is between 5-8 ps for subluminal to superluminal light propagation.

An exact solution to paraxial propagation of laser beams in longitudinal inhomogeneous plasmas

An exact, general solution for laser beams propagating in longitudinally inhomogeneous plasmas is obtained in the form of the diffraction integral. The Gaussian beam and the Hermite-Gaussian beam are taken for example. In the case of an increasing plasma density along the propagation distance, natural diffraction of the Gaussian beam is retarded. This retardance has a less effect on the central part of the Hermite-Gaussian beam while a considerable rise of the power in bucket （PIB） occurs in the surrounding part of the beam.