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Fujikura enters European fibre laser market

Fujikura has entered the fibre laser market, releasing high power pulsed lasers aimed at the engraving market, followed by the release of high power (4kW-6kW) CW lasers towards the end of the year.

The company enters an industrial fibre laser market dominated by IPG Photonics, along with firms such as Rofin, SPI Lasers, owned by Trumpf, and Lumentum.

Fujikura is an established supplier of fibre lasers in Japan and has been a major player in the fibre optics industry since the early 1970s where the company was one of the pioneers of developing manufacturing processes for optical fibres.

The company has expanded its technology line up with the acquisition of Optoenergy, a Japanese supplier of high power semiconductor lasers. Fujikura is one of a very limited number of companies able to produce 100 per cent of the components used within fibre lasers.

Fujikura has 70 patents relating to fibre laser technologies, the company stated. ‘We are aiming initially at high end applications,’ commented Simon Richardson, head of European optics.

The company’s first pulsed fibre lasers will be 40-75W systems. It will then release 4kW-6kW CW lasers towards the end of 2016. ‘Both of these systems have been produced in large volumes for the Japanese market and we are set to expand into Europe,’ Richardson added.

Both systems have exceptional tolerance to back reflections from reflective materials, according to the company. This is achieved not just through external isolators, but is inherent to the optical design of the components and the laser cavity.

Fujikura employs 55,000 people in the field of telecoms, automotive and electronics. The company is one of the worlds’ largest suppliers of optical fibres and fusion splicers. Fujikura also produces optical components such as fibre gratings, couplers and speciality fibres in-house.

‘We make 100 per cent of the optical components within our systems,’ said Richardson. ‘The quality control is exceptional; all of the key manufacturing processes are performed in Japan with stringent quality checks from start to end.’

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