THE WORLD LEADER IN FIBER LASERS

  • Faster and easier than MIG & TIG Welding, LightWELD provides consistent high-quality results across a wide range of materials and thicknesses. LightWELD XR Handheld Laser Welding & Cleaning System

    Faster and easier than MIG & TIG Welding, LightWELD provides consistent high-quality results across a wide range of materials and thicknesses.

  • YLR-U Series Lasers

    The smallest kW-class CW ytterbium fiber lasers in the industry offering unmatched performance in record-breaking, ultra-compact form factors with the highest power to volume ratios.

  • high peak power brass piercing sampleDLS-ECO Laser Heater

    DLS-ECO is a 55% efficient laser source for drying paint and battery electrode slurries, curing powder coat, or heating silicon wafers.

  • YLS Series High Power Lasers

    IPG fiber lasers offer the best value, most stability and the highest productivity. They are built to last with their solid state monolithic design with 20x less degradation than competitors.

 
IPG Photonics EV-Cube Automated Battery Module Welder

 

IPG LightWELD 1500 - Handheld Laser Welding System
IPG Photonics Global Headquarters  

IPG Photonics is the leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance fiber lasers and amplifiers for diverse applications in numerous markets. Diverse lines of low, medium and high-power lasers and amplifiers are used in materials processing, communications, entertainment, medical, biotechnology, scientific and advanced applications with many new products displacing traditional technologies. IPG products are available globally for OEMs, system integrators and end users across a wide range of industries.

Highly vertically integrated development and manufacturing capabilities enable IPG to meet customer requirements, accelerate development, manage costs and improve component yields, while maintaining high performance and quality standards. IPG operates globally with manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Germany, Russia and Italy, and regional sales offices in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, Canada, and the United Kingdom. 

IPG was founded in 1991 by physicist Valentin P. Gapontsev, Ph.D., a pioneer in the field of fiber lasers and recipient of various awards. IPG originally made and sold customized glass and crystal lasers, wireless temperature meters for hyperthermy and laser components. In 1992, the company began focusing on the development of high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers receiving its first major contract from telecommunications carrier Italtel. IPG then won a second major contract from DaimlerBenz Aerospace. The company opened a facility in Germany in 1994 and established World Headquarters in the USA in 1998.

In 2000, IPG invested in new high-capacity production facilities in USA to manufacture its own laser diode pumps, a major component of its fiber lasers and amplifiers. The company went public in 2006 and is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker IPGP.

In May 2021, Dr. Gapontsev stepped down due to health concerns and was succeeded by Dr. Eugene Scherbakov as CEO. Dr. Gapontsev passed away in October of 2021 as a man who was universally admired for his vision and success in scientific innovations married to entrepreneurial drive over the last thirty years. He was a passionate leader for IPG, leaving indelible marks on everything and everyone he touched.

Learn more about the life of Dr. Gapontsev, his awards and recognitions.

  VG

 

IPG Photonics EV-Cube Automated Battery Module Welder

 

IPG LightWELD 1500 - Handheld Laser Welding System
  • DLS-ECO Laser HeaterDLS-ECO Heating and Drying Diode Laser Solutions

    DLS-ECO Series announces the arrival of solid-state heating to replace less efficient infrared bulbs and environmentally unfriendly gas fired furnaces.

  • ULPP-257 Picosecond Fiber LaserULPP-257 Picosecond Fiber Laser

    Deep UV Picosecond Fiber Laser with Industry Leading Reliability for Micromachining Applications.

  • ULPN-266 Series Fiber LaserULPN-266 Deep UV Series

    Nanosecond Pulsed Laser with a small, flexible form factor is ideal laser source for material processing workstations utilized in the display, electronics, medical device and other industries.

  • YLS-QCW-AMB Adjustable Mode BeamYLS-QCW-AMB

    Combining the benefits of (AMB) lasers and a quasi-continuous wave mode of operation, these lasers are air-cooled, eliminating need for water-cooling lines and stand-alone chiller.

  • YLS-AMB Adjustable Mode Beam

    YLS-AMB Adjustable Mode Beam Lasers provides independent programmable tuning of the output beam mode to any combination of a small-spot high intensity bright core to a larger ring-shaped beam.

  • YLR-U Series Fiber LaserYLR-U Series Fiber Laser

    The smallest kW-class CW ytterbium fiber lasers in the industry that offer unmatched performance ultra-compact form factors with the highest power to volume ratios.

  • QCW 2x PeakPower

    The 2x PeakPower Boost QCW Option on the latest YLR and YLS Lasers enables the user to run a CW laser in pulsed mode with 2x increase in peak power in comparison with CW average power.

  • YLPP-200-1-200-R

    This Ultra Short Pulse fiber laser provides sub 3 ps pulses with 200 μJ pulse energy across its entire operational frequency range from 50 kHz to 2 MHz, producing up to 200 W of average power.

  • LDD-700

    LDD-700 in-line weld QA tool for remote scan welding applications offers five monitoring modes: keyhole depth, seam profile, workpiece height, finished weld surface height and bead profile.

  • Ultra-compact fiber laserYLS-3000-U

    YLS-U lasers are built in the smallest form factor available on the market in its output power class. This cost/performance optimized design is an ideal choice for easy integration within cutting machines.

 

Events

2023    
August 9-11 Vietnam Manufacturing Expo, Hanoi, Vietnam
September 11-14 FABTECH 2023, Chicago, IL
September 11-15 Schweissen & Schneiden, Essen, Germany
September 12-14 The Battery Show, Novi, MI
September 12-14 TCT Asia, Shanghai, China
September 13-15 K-Battery Show, Kyeonggi-do, South Korea
September 19-23 CIIF 2023, Shanghai, China
September 20-21 MedTech, Galway, Ireland
October 4-6 Photonix Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
October 10-11 MD&M Minneapolis, Minneapolis, MN
October 17-20 Weldign Korea +Automation 2023, Changwon, South Korea
November 14-17 Daegu Automatic Machinery Expo, Daegu, South Korea
November 22-25 Metalex 2023, Bangkok, Thailand
November 27-28 Future Battery Forum, Berlin, Germany
December 6-9 Manufacturing Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia

Past Events

2023    
July 11-13 Photonics China 2023, Shanghai, China
July 5-7 Laser Korea, Kyeonggi-so, South Korea
June 28-30 CWIEME Shanghai, Shanghai, China
June 27-30 Laser World of Photonics, Munich, Germany
June 27-30 AMTS Shanghai, Shanghai, China
June 27-30 Essen Welding Show, shenzhen, China
June 13-15 ALAW Advanced Laser Applications Workshop, Novi, MI
May 25-26 Battery Show Europe, Stuttgart, Germany
May 16-18 FABTECH Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
May 10-13 Intermach MTA Asia, Bangkok, Thailand

May 9-12

Australian Manufacturing Week, Melbourne, Australia
April 26-27 UKP-Workshop, Aachen, Germany
April 12-14

International Welding & Sheet Metal and Laser Equipment Exhibition, Incheon, South Korea

March 29-31 Mecspe, Milan, Italy
March 28-31 Industrial Spring, Kielce, Poland
March 22-23 MedTech, Coventry, UK
March 15-17 INTERBATTERY, Seoul, South Korea
March 8-10 Smart Factory + Automation World, Seoul, South Korea
January 28 – February 2

Photonics West, San Francisco, CA

2022    
December 11-15

Optica Laser Congress, Barcelona, Spain

December 7-9

Photonix, Tokyo, Japan

November 23-25

India Essen Welding & Cutting, Mumbai, India

November 16-17

The Advanced Battery Conference, Detroit, MI

November 13-15

India International EV Show, Pune, India

November 8-10

FabTech 2022, Atlanta, GA

September 12-17

IMTS 2022, Chicago, IL

September 13-15

The Battery Show, Novi, MI

June 6-9

Automate 2022, Detroit, MI

June 7-9

Advanced Laser Application Workshop, Plymouth, MI

June 27-29

FABTECH Canada 2022, San Jose, CA

April 26-29

Laser World of Photonics, Messe Munchen, Munich

April 4-8

MACH 2022, Birmingham, UK

January 25-27

Photonics West, San Francisco, CA

2021    
December 9-11

PRI, Indianapolis, IN

November 16-18

WESTEC, Long Beach, CA

November 15-18

ADIPEC, Abu Dhabi, UAE

November 3-4

Advanced Engineering , Birmingham, UK

October 19-21

EASTEC, West Springfield, MA

  • Electrical efficiency of greater than 30% wall-plug efficiency vs. 1.5% to 2% for lamp-pumped YAG
  • Cost savings from no replacement of flash lamps: Long life telecom grade single emitter diodes lifetimes greater than 100,000 hours used in fiber lasers vs. flash lamps
  • Fixed spot size and spot profile at all power levels
  • Maintenance-free or low maintenance operation
  • Minimal spare parts
  • Air-cooled or minimal cooling requirements
  • Substantial reduction in laser footprint
  • Longer working distance
  • No requirement for alignment
  • No warm-up/instant on
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IPG now supplies a range of plug and play beam delivery components and machining heads; these can be quoted either with laser equipment or separately. We offer:

  • custom fiber lengths up to 100 m
  • different process fiber core diameters, wide choice of BPP matching the application
  • internal shutters, beam couplers, multi-port switches and shearers
  • collimators, termination optics
  • processing head/ scanner options
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In general yes, however you may require an adapter to accept the IPG fiber connector. In some instances you may want to increase the focal length to take full advantage of the processing advantages that fiber lasers offer.

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Yes, all IPG fiber lasers have a wide choice of industrial interfaces and can be easily interfaced to standard industrial controls.

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Yes, there are many other system builders who have successfully built turn-key systems using fiber lasers for a number of years.  IPG now also offers complete laser systems and sub-systems. IPG can supply a list of integrators and OEMs that can provide a turn-key solution that match the customer requirement.

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IPG offers the longest warranties in the industry: the typical warranty for standard fiber lasers is for a full 3 years after shipment.  Some non-standard lasers and accessories may have different warranties. IPG also offers extended warranties. Contact your sales person for details.

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IPG has extensive application development facilities at 14 locations around the world. In addition, various institutes and universities in North America, Europe and Asia are available for advanced research in applications development with fiber laser technology.

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These statements come from people not familiar with fiber laser technology. Our multi-kilowatt low mode fiber lasers are not susceptible to back reflection issues if the appropriate delivery fiber is utilized. With single-mode lasers they in most cases do not have a problem, unless highly reflective materials are processed. However, if the back reflection is too high, the units sense the reflection and automatically shut down. The addition of an isolator eliminates this issue. IPG have numerous units in the field cutting and welding highly reflective material such as copper and aluminum on a production basis.

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Diode bars (AKA as monolithic laser diode arrays) are made up of multiple emitters arranged in parallel in one crystal. Because of the high heat density in the junction area and strong thermal crosstalk between the emitters comprising the bars diode arrays must be mounted on copper with soft solder (Indium) and be water-cooled. High-speed and high pressure water flow through tiny gold coated channels in the copper (called micro-channel coolers) provides aggressive cooling. However the water in the system must be kept extremely clean and be PH neutral as these channels are prone to failure due to cavitation and erosion in a relatively short period of time. Keeping water quality to the specification is extremely challenging task in any, especially in industrial, environment. Copper heatsink and diode bar semiconductor are very dissimilar materials, including coefficient of thermal expansion. Under real world operating conditions, frequent on-off cycles, the performance of bars tends to deteriorate much faster than under constant driving current which bar manufacturers use mostly to characterize their devices.

The other source of frequent bars’ failure is in the semiconductor diode bar itself; lifetime of the bar is usually determined by the reliability of its “weakest” emitter. In order to improve performance and to boost heatsinking bars are often get attached to micro-channel coolers with high heat conductive soft solder, indium. Under high driving current operation indium is known to migrate through bar metallization into semiconductor material thus causing its sudden instantaneous failure.

Many manufacturers of diode bars pro rate the warranty based on hours used. IPG have always used single emitter diode laser pumps manufactured entirely in-house, these are mounted on a heat sink with the same coefficient of thermal expansion as the diode chip. IPG uses telecom-qualified hard solder which is free of electro-migration defects. Depending upon the size of the fiber laser, IPG diodes are either air-cooled with high speed fans or are water-cooled through stainless steel pipes beneath the heat sink. There is no direct contact with water coolant. The diode light is delivered via fiber and is delivered directly to the active medium and spliced thus eliminating an air to active medium interface that can be a source of contamination. The lifetime of the single emitter diodes depends on the current they are operated at. Industrial IPG pump diodes are run at a current levels for expected lietimes of several years. IPG Photonics diodes are not pro-rated and are covered for the complete warranty period of the fiber laser or amplifier.

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IPG Photonics tests 100% of their diodes before they are certified for a laser or amplifier. Duration of the test generally is longer than 1,500 hours when diodes are operated at stressed conditions, greatly elevated temperature and current. If the diodes pass this test with no drop off in power they are certified for usage in our devices. Whether the diode is used for a 10 kW fiber laser for materials processing or a broad band fiber amplifier for telecom, similar procedures are followed. IPG is now the largest manufacturer of single emitter multi-mode diodes with the most extensive diode test facility in the world. With over 10,000 high power fiber lasers in use in production applications around the world, some of which have been in operation for over 10 years, IPG has the experience and statistical data to support its statements regards diode lifetime.

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There are three main reasons:

  • Many of the components used by IPG are not available on the open market or do not meet the stringent requirements required for high power fiber lasers.
  • Vertical integration allows IPG to better optimize components for our unique systems, to respond quickly to customer requests and to bring product to market rapidly.
  • Finally, it allows IPG to closely control cost to maximize the benefit to our customers.
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It is quite simple. With a fiber laser the procedure is to image the output of the fiber on the work piece. The spot size is equal to the fiber diameter x the magnification ratio of your collimator and final focus lens. For example, if the fiber diameter is 50 microns and you use a 60 mm focal length collimator and a 300 mm final focus lens the final spot size is SS= 50x 300/60= 250 microns. The fiber diameter, collimator and final focus lenses can all be changed to obtain the appropriate spot size. The spot size will not vary as a function of power over the complete dynamic range of 5% to 105% of rated power. With a single mode laser the spot size at the work will be Gaussian and with a low order mode laser top hat.

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The same fiber laser can do cutting, welding, drilling and cladding. Many customers have purchased a fiber laser with a 2-way, 4-way or 6-way beam switch. For example, one leg will have a 100 micron fiber for cutting, a 200 micron for welding and 400 or higher for cladding or annealing. The power can be changed to a different level and switched to a new delivery fiber in a matter of milliseconds. Delivery fiber can support multiple work stations of up to 200 meters apart.

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The answer is simple – the design of fiber lasers generates less heat and manages the heat they generate effectively. The quantum defect (that is the difference between pump and emission energy) is lesser for a Ytterbium diode-pumped fiber laser (pumped at 980 nm) than a Nd:YAG diode pumped laser (pumped at 808 nm). Also, the optical to optical conversion efficiency of fiber laser is typically 70-80%, as compared with approximately 4% for lamp pumped YAGs, and approximately 40% for diode-pumped YAGs and disk lasers. Because the light is always contained in a fiber, there are no additional sources of the loss inside the laser cavity.

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Users can save significant savings from using fiber lasers in their production. The amount you can save depends upon many things including your current process, materials, production environment, electrical and labor costs. Here are some of the savings:

a. Higher Wall-plug Efficiency: Fiber lasers have unrivaled efficiency when compared to existing conventional laser technologies:

Type Wall-plug Efficiency
Fiber Laser Ytterbium (Yb) 40%+ (>50% for ECO Series)
Lamp-pumped YAG 1.5-2%
Diode-pumped YAG 10-20%
Disc 15-25%
CO2 5-10%

Energy Savings Calculator

b. Cooling: The efficiency of the fiber laser also contributes to lower cooling requirements, which contributes to lower electrical usage. Lower power fiber lasers require only air-cooling. Higher power fiber laser require water-cooling that is generally more simple and less costly than for equivalent alternative laser technologies. Cooling also depends upon your particular production environment.

c. Consumables/Replacement Parts: Because of the highly efficient design of fiber lasers (better thermal management) and the use of telecom-grade single emitter pump diodes in our fiber lasers, you can save on replacement parts (such as lamps and diode bars), labor and production down time. Many lamps and diode bars used in YAGs have estimated lifetimes of 2,000 hours and 20,000 hours, respectively. These are a fraction of the MTBF of IPG’s single emitter diodes of > 100,000 hours which mean that for the life of the fiber laser, you should not have to replace the diodes. In the all solid-state fiber-to-fiber design of IPG’s lasers, you save even further because there are no optics to adjust or maintain, such as resonators mirrors, crystals, fluids and filters, as in conventional lasers.

d. Maintenance: Fiber lasers require no or low maintenance, depending on the output powers and other factors, as compared to conventional lasers. There are no optics to align and no warm up-times, as well as consumables/replacement parts. As a result, you can save substantial sums on maintenance.

e. Capital costs: With fiber lasers, the same laser can cut, weld and drill, allowing you to lower your investment costs as compared to purchasing and maintaining different lasers and laser systems for each of these functions.

f. Tax Savings:  

Section 179 of the US tax code allows businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment and/or software purchased or financed during the tax year. That means that if you buy (or lease) a piece of qualifying equipment, you can deduct the FULL PURCHASE PRICE from your gross income. It's an incentive created by the U.S. Government to encourage businesses to buy equipment and invest in themselves.  See the latest information on Capital purchases, bonus depreciation in Section 179.

Now is the time to purchase an IPG fiber laser, fiber laser system or retrofit your old laser source with a new energy-efficient fiber laser. The U.S. Government has sent some stimulus your way in the form of the Section 179 deduction; please consult Section 179 website for more details as available.

Disclaimer: This is not tax advice. Consult your tax consultant for tax advice and the applicability to your business and circumstances. Any advice contained in this document was not intended to be used, and cannot be used, by you (or any other taxpayer) to avoid penalties under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

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  • IPG is listed on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “IPGP
  • IPG is the largest laser company by market capitalization and the second largest maker of laser sources (measured by total sales).
  • IPG is the fastest growing laser company. As a result of the growing acceptance of IPG’s all solid-state fiber lasers across numerous industries and applications, IPG’s net sales went from $474 million in 2011 to $1.41 billion in 2017 representing a compound annual growth rate of 20%.
  • IPG has over 1.6 million sq. feet of manufacturing space in the US, Germany, Italy and Russia.
  • IPG has sales and service centers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brasil, Germany, the U.K., Italy, France, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, Turkey, Russia, Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore and India. Contact Us
  • IPG has ~5,400 employees.
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IPG Photonics EV-Cube Automated Battery Module Welder

 

IPG LightWELD 1500 - Handheld Laser Welding System

 
IPG Photonics EV-Cube Automated Battery Module Welder

 

IPG LightWELD 1500 - Handheld Laser Welding System
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