Laser marking, high-power laser cutting or medical applications such as endoscopy often require a laser beam to be delivered to a region separated from the location of the source. To achieve this, one can either use expensive, cumbersome articulated-arm/gantry solutions, or, potentially more flexible and cost-effective fiber solutions. At the 10.6 μmwavelength, where CO{sub}2 lasers are the lowest-cost, highest-power sources, there are no reliable fiber solutions available. Therefore articulated arms are often used despite their shortcomings. Alternatively, a wavelength where fibers are available is chosen, even if the lasers are far more expensive (e.g. Nd:YAG). OmniGuide's photonic band-gap fibers, which are based on omnidirectional reflectivity, offer a solution to this problem. These fibers have a hollow core that is surrounded by a high-index contrast dielectric mirror, which confines more than 99.9% of the light to the core. These fibers can be designed to guide light at any wavelength - including the 10.6 μm wavelength of the CO{sub}2 laser. Due to the strong core confinement, one can use very lossy materials in the dielectric mirror and still achieve very low fiber attenuation. This enables guidance of higher power over longer distances.
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