A laser processing apparatus includes a laser beam applying unit for applying a laser beam to a workpiece, and a control unit. The laser beam applying unit includes a laser oscillator for emitting a laser, a condensing lens, a concave mirror having a focal point at a focused spot of the condensing lens and having a spherical reflecting surface, a beam splitter for transmitting therethrough the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator toward the condensing lens and branching off a reflected beam, and a wavefront measuring unit for receiving the reflected beam and acquiring wavefront data. The control unit changes a phase pattern to be displayed on a display portion of a spatial light modulator on the basis of the wavefront data.

A method and system for detecting an operating condition of an optical element along a propagation path of a power laser beam in a laser processing machine head are based on a first signal of a back-propagating optical radiation at the wavelength of the laser beam; a second signal of a back-propagating optical radiation having a wavelength in the near infrared; a third signal of an optical radiation emitted by the optical element in the infrared in proximity to its surface; a fourth signal which is a function of the time-of-flight of an acoustic wave launched through the volume of the optical element.

A laser system preventing a light-guiding member that guides a laser beam from being overheated is provided. A laser system includes a laser device including a resonator section configured to generate a laser beam and a light-guiding member configured to guide the laser beam generated by the resonator section, a detection device configured to detect, as a detection value, a temperature of the laser device or a magnitude of the laser beam guided by the light-guiding member, an emission control section configured to stop emission of the laser beam from the resonator section to the light-guiding member when the detection value exceeding a predetermined threshold, and a stop-time determination section configured to determine a stop time for causing the emission control section to stop emission of the laser beam based on the detection value detected by the detection device.

A laser machining device includes a reflective plate disposed perpendicular to the optical axis of emitting light and having a constant reflectance to the emitting light; a return light measurement unit which measures intensity distribution of return light reflected off the reflective plate and returning to the external optical system via a beam splitter; a storage unit which stores the return light intensity distribution in a normal state as reference data; a preprocessing unit which performs processing of identifying at least one of an optical axis shift, a beam diameter anomaly, a mode anomaly, a ghost, contamination of a protective window, and a focus shift due to thermal lens effect on the basis of comparison between measurement data of the return light intensity distribution and the reference data, before laser machining; and a warning unit which warns of an anomaly in the external optical system in accordance with the preprocessing unit.

A laser apparatus calculates a temperature of a temperature increase portion that is raised in temperature by reflection light, and determines and outputs an emergency optical output command with the aim of ensuring that the calculated temperature does not exceed a first predetermined temperature, which is set at a lower temperature than an upper limit heat resistance temperature, and if necessary, controlling the temperature to or below a second predetermined temperature set at a lower temperature than the first predetermined temperature. When the emergency optical output command is to be output, a control unit switches an optical output command output thereby to the emergency optical output command and outputs the emergency optical output command.

A locking and fail-safe system can ensure proper installation of a lens assembly in a laser welding machine. The laser welding machine includes a laser head, a lens assembly, and an alignment tab operatively connected to the lens assembly. A device can be operatively positioned relative to the laser welding machine. The device can include a spring pin member with a movable slide pin. In a locked condition, the spring pin member can be positioned such that the slide pin is received in an aperture in the alignment tab, indicating that the lens assembly is properly installed and locking the lens assembly in place. A sensor can be used to determine whether the spring pin assembly is in a correct position, location, and/or orientation. The laser welding machine can be disabled if the spring pin member is not in a correct position, location, and/or orientation.

A laser machining method includes, before laser machining: calculating the amount of focus movement on the basis of a first measurement value measured with the external optical system warmed up and being the amount of energy of a laser beam passing through a small-diameter hole and a first reference value (database D1) predetermined depending on the type of contamination of the external optical system in relation to the first measurement value; and compensating the focus position in laser machining on the basis of the calculated amount of focus movement.

A laser machining apparatus includes a machining correlation data management unit configured to manage machining correlation data which associates a position in an optical axis direction of a focus lens with a focus position for machining when machining light is condensed by the focus lens, a focus confirmation correlation data management unit configured to manage or create focus confirmation correlation data which associates the position in the optical axis direction of the focus lens with a focus position for focus confirmation when the guide light is condensed by the focus lens, and a lens driving mechanism control unit configured to move, in a first mode, the focus lens in the optical axis direction based on the machining correlation data, and to move, in a second mode, the focus lens in the optical axis direction based on the focus confirmation correlation data.

A laser beam irradiating unit of a laser processing apparatus includes a laser oscillator, a mirror configured to reflect a laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator and propagate the laser beam to a processing point, a power measuring unit configured to measure power of leakage light of the laser beam transmitted without being reflected by the mirror, and a condensing lens configured to condense the laser beam propagated by the mirror and irradiate a workpiece with the condensed laser beam. The control unit measures the power of the leakage light of the laser beam by the power measuring unit while irradiating the workpiece with the laser beam.

A processing performance confirmation method for a laser processing apparatus that processes a workpiece with a laser beam of a wavelength having absorption in the workpiece. The method includes a holding step of holding the workpiece by a chuck table of the laser processing apparatus, a processing mark forming step of moving the workpiece and a condensing point of the laser beam relative to each other in a predetermined direction intersecting a thickness direction of the workpiece at right angles while changing the condensing point in height, thereby to form a processing mark on an upper surface of the workpiece, a imaging step of imaging a plurality of regions of the processing mark formed in the processing mark forming step, and a confirmation step of confirming processing performance of the laser processing apparatus based on images acquired in the imaging step.