What are the different uses for YAG and CO2 lasers?
YAG lasers and CO2 lasers react very differently on different materials because of the differing wavelengths of the laser beams. The wavelength of a YAG laser (1.064 microns) is exactly ten times smaller than the CO2 wavelength of 10.64 microns, which makes it ideally suited for absorption in most metals, but this small wavelength inhibits its ability to be absorbed by many other materials (wood, acrylic, plastics, fabrics, etc.) A CO2 laser beam is not easily absorbed by metal, but can easily be absorbed by many organic materials such as wood, acrylic, rubber, etc, while it tends to reflect off of most metal surfaces. It’s the different wavelengths of the two beams that are mainly responsible for the different types of materials that they will react with. There are a number of other differences between the two lasers; thermal efficiency, heat transfer, minimum and maximum power output, etc. and these characteristics all have an affect on the materials that the beams react with.
