Patent ID: 11938561
Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
Field: Machine tools (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. A laser processing apparatus comprising:
a light source including a laser oscillator that is configured to emit laser light;
a power supply that is configured to supply a current to the light source;
a deflection unit that is positioned on an optical path of the laser light emitted from the light source, the deflection unit including: (i) an acousto-optic element (AOM) that is configured to change an amount of transmission of the laser light to deflect at least a part of the laser light; and (ii) and an AOM driver that is configured to input a signal into the AOM;
an optical separation unit that is positioned on the optical path of the laser light passing through the deflection unit, configured to shield higher-order light that is included in the laser light and deflected by the AOM in the deflection unit, and configured to transmit zero-order light that is included in the laser light and passes through the deflection unit; and
a signal synchronization circuit that is configured to: (i) control the power supply to selectively turn the current off in synchronization with a timing at which both the higher-order light and the zero-order light are deflected by the AOM; (ii) input a power supply modulation signal to the power supply; and (iii) input an AOM driver modulation signal to the AOM driver,
wherein the optical separation unit includes a mirror configured to reflect both the higher-order light and the zero-order light, and a damper configured to shield the higher-order light.