AVIA Family of DPSS Lasers

When Reliability is Critical, Choose AVIA

The high cost of downtime makes reliability the most important requirement in most manufacturing applications. And, for machine tools that use lasers, the long-term cost of ownership is far more dependent on uptime and service characteristics than the initial purchase price. That’s why every aspect of the AVIA’s design, manufacturing, and field service specifically target maximized uptime and availability.
 

Reliability by Design

• FMEA design process eliminates known failure modes
• Designed for low fluence on PermAlign™ optics to give long product life

Failure Mode Effect Analysis assures continued improvements in our product design and engineering processes. We use this analysis to identify potential failure modes and then develop methods for eliminating any problem we discover.

We use a closed-loop design philosophy to maximize system performance. Key sensors and actuators monitor each critical laser parameter, optimizing the laser to meet your specific application requirements over a wide range of operating conditions.

All Coherent products are scalable to meet both your current and future requirements. This design scalability of each AVIA platform allows you to design your product for the future with confidence.  Our product scalability shortens your time to market, and choosing AVIA lasers allows you to quickly reach the next level of throughput with minimal impact on your existing product design.
 

Built-In Reliability

• Six Sigma DMAIC process assures continuous product improvement
• Coherent manufacture of key components guarantees laser quality
• Cradle to grave product traceability
• ISO Certification

We manufacture the AVIA’s key components, controlling the quality of each laser by controlling the quality of its components. Our six sigma continuous improvement process optimizes production processes and workflow, lets us assign resources to create improvements, and establishes metrics for measuring these improvements. AVIA lasers also provide higher operating headroom than the industry standard, ensuring the longest operating lifetimes.

Our Electronic Traveler System provides a lifelong record of over 800 test parameters for every laser we build. Results include extremely low unit-to-unit variability and enhanced consistency in your part processing. This system provides complete traceability and support for the full life of the product.
 

Fast and Flexible

• Compact, rugged, and seamless integration allow you to quickly and easily drop AVIA 266 nm, 355 nm and 532 nm O and OA platform lasers into both current and future applications.
• AVIA lasers lead the industry in average power and repetition rate. Higher power and higher repetition rates mean higher throughput.

Support You Can Count On

• Long MTBF on diodes and laser systems
• 2 year warranty on full system
• Return replacment service strategy on all new models
• local service staff and spare parts depots

Our worldwide network of field engineers and parts locations provides a quick response when you need us. And with AVIA lasers designed for serviceability, you will soon be a “laser expert” based on the professional user training and extensive documentation you receive with the product. With over 40 years of experience working with industrial customers, Coherent is a name you can trust.

Several unique features contribute to the AVIA’S superior performance and reliability. These features include:

Repeatable Beam Positioning – PosiLock is a proprietary Coherent technology based on using a closed-loop feedback control of the beam position to ensure repeatable spot positioning at the work surface. The result is consistent, uniform processing. PosiLock eliminates the need for tool realignment over a wide range of operating conditions. In most cases, within a few seconds of a change in power, repetition rate, or operating conditions, PosiLock corrects any shift in the beam position caused by a change in power, repetition rate, or operating conditions – typically within a few seconds. The corrected position is most often within 10µm of the original beam location.
 
Precise Pulse Energy Control at the Work Piece – PulseEQ is also a proprietary Coherent technology. It delivers constant pulse energy across a wide range of rapidly varying pulse repetition rates. This constant pulse energy results in a consistently repeatable manufacturing process, creating low part-to-part variances.  Essentially, PulseEQ adjusts the AVIA to fit the process. In a conventional Q-switched laser, where pulse energy is a function of pump power and the amount of time since the last pulse – energy storage – the process must be adjusted to suit the laser!

More importantly, PulseEQ also allows the user to vary pulse energy for any given repetition rate.  Most competitive lasers control power to the work piece by varying the diode current. This method limits the range of variance and can negatively affect including mode quality, beam pointing, and pulse-to-pulse energy stability – virtually all key beam performance parameters. PulseEQ controls power at the work piece for a given repetition rate without negatively affecting key parameters, laser performance, or final product quality – significantly better than any competitor.

Constant Power Over Time – Over time power degradation of the third harmonic generation (THG) crystal, results in power degradation in a UV laser.  The AVIA uses a large THG crystal with multiple spot positions design overcomes this by using a large THG crystal, with multiple spot positions, and automated crystal shifter to overcome this problem.  By automatically shifting this THG crystal, power is restored to the original factory value.  All AVIA lasers offer a minimum of 75 THG. This compares to crystal spot positions, versus only a single THG crystal spot position for competitors without an automated crystal shifter.  The results of restoring the UV power to its original factory value are shown below:

Field-Replaceable Diodes – The two key parts that wear or degrade in a UV laser are the THG crystal (discussed above) and the laser diodes. Because we manufacture and test our own diodes, they are the most rugged, longest life, and reliable diodes available today. Our diodes are also field-replaceable, so when they reach the end of their useful life – typically >20,000 hours – they can be changed easily in the field.

Continuously Optimized Performance – ThermaTrack is another proprietary Coherent technology used in the manufacture of AVIA lasers. A mirror, mounted on a motor-driven slide assembly, allows movement of the mirror. This ability to change the mirror’s position effectively changes the laser cavity design, maximizing laser power and performance for many operating conditions – diode current, thermal load, and pulse repetition rate. Superior performance and greater throughput accrue for the end user – over a wide range of operating conditions and over the life of the laser.

ThermaTrack is a big advantage for AVIA, as the changes in laser performance related to thermal load conditions can be significant.  Using a metric as simple as laser output power, this ability to maximize laser performance by moving this mirror within the laser cavity, can significantly increase output power and laser performance in over 95% of the situations that we run across in real life, day-to-day laser operation. 

ThermaTrack also improves the AVIA’s performance in regard to thermal load conditions. Using output power as an example, this ability to move the mirror within the laser cavity can significantly increase output power and laser performance in over 95% of day-to-day laser operations.

Consistent Performance Over a Wide Range of Operating Conditions – ThermEQ is another proprietary Coherent technology. It both delivers constant pulse energy over time – even with varying repetition rates – and guarantees uniform pulse energy when the laser is operated in burst mode.  Process consistency is enhanced and energy produced at the work surface can be regulated without any degradation in laser beam parameters.

Perfect and Permanent Laser Alignment – PermAlign, which is also a proprietary Coherent technology, ensures a rugged, permanently aligned laser head that is free from contamination. PermAlign carefully aligns the optics to the optimal 3D position, where they are soldered into place. This process eliminates future optical misalignment, which is the single highest failure mechanism in competitive lasers. The laser head is then sealed, eliminating the possibility of resonator optics contamination in the field.

AVIA lasers are frequently improved in order to remain superior in reliability and performance. These improvements also result in reduced cost per watt and in cost of operation.

As AVIA products evolve to meet the demands of our customers, prior generations of these lasers are eventually discontinued.

We make new AVIA products as backwards-compatible as is practical. Below, you will find our replacement Product matrix to help you transition to the newer generation of each AVIA laser.