co2 laser expander

[amit2185]

Dears,

I am building a co2 laser cutting machine using Synrad's Firestar ti60 series laser for cutting applications.
As all of you know, synrad's firestar ti60 series has output diameter of laser only 2mm (+- 0.3mm).
And I am making this laser stationary and want to use laser beam deflectors to draw the beam from x axis to y axis to focus lens and nozzle.
For such arrangement, which deflecting mirrors best suitable for the machine. (In terms of coating like gold, Si, Mo...)

I already searched website of lightobject and they have mirrors with capability to sustain against 60 w to 150w laser. But my doubt is that whether these mirrors are compatible with 2mm diameter 60w co2 laser to deflect. I am asking this question because in tutorial I read that before selecting any mirror its better see its capacity in terms of watt/ sqr cm.

Also, here mirrors wattages are in terms of CW and in my cutting machine I will not use laser in CW mode. Instead of, I will use laser in pulsed mode to cut material. Will it be okay to still use this mirrors?

Should I need to increase beam diameter using expander before it hits to deflecting mirror? (to decrease the watt/sqr cm)

Please help me as soon as possible.

[Tech_Marco]

Si seems the best candidates
Beam expander will give you very good performance on engraving. It make it very sharp
BX improve the collimation and it reduce stress on the mirror/lens as well.

Marco

[brian257]

So what does a laser like that cost and do you get much better performance than a glass tube?

[Tech_Marco]

Brian:

Beam expander is an optic device to enhance the CO2 light beam. It is not another kind of laser tube


Marco

[brian257]

I know what a beam expander is. I was wondering how much the Synrad tube costs and if it is much better than the cheapie glass tubes.