Glow Forge

[Cenobite9]

Hi all,

I was distracted one day by an ad for the Glow Forge 3D laser printer so I went to their site and while looking at the specs I saw it used what was described as a 10,600nm 40 watt CO2 laser to do the cutting. My question is does a 10,600nm wavelength exist or is that a misprint?

 

[Sta]

It sure does! CO2 lasers are very far into the infrared.

 

[CurtisOliver]

Yes, that is the most common CO2 wavelength.

 

[FRITZ HID]

yep, that's the wavelength of "heat"... which CO2s do quite well in. catch a reflected beam off an industrial laser processor and you'll find it's like having a IR space heater pointed right in your face.

 

[Cenobite9]

Wow, so kind of like lasing a microwave...

 

[CurtisOliver]

Close, but not quite a maser yet. It is IR. This laser is at 10.6 microns. You need the wavelength to around 0.1cm to be classified as a microwave.

 

[plag]

Yep its pretty far IR. Such wave lenght has huge divergence.