Simulation of energy distribution of water guided laser in different morphological water column

Abstract

Water-guided laser is a processing technology that uses a high-pressure water jet to guide the laser to act on the processing surface to complete material removal, which has the advantages of large processing depth, small heat-affected zone and good processing quality. However, the coupling efficiency of the beam in the water jet affects the processing quality. The coupling efficiency was found to be affected by the laminar flow quality of the water jet, which has an irregular shape on the surface of the water column ejected from the nozzle. This paper investigates the factors affecting the beam propagation quality and provides an in-depth study of the laminar surface state affecting the laminar light transmission. The laser energy distribution in laminar flow in different surface morphology was simulated with ZEMAX optical simulation software. The influence law on the light transmission efficiency of water jet is obtained, the more complex the surface morphology of the water jet, the worse the light transfer efficiency and the more serious the power loss. Lastly, the reasons affecting the laminar flow condition are analyzed, theoretical support is provided for efficient laminar flow coupling light transmission by water-guided laser.