Achieving Meaningful Results with an Unusual Winding Setup in Ansys Maxwell 

The winding settings within Ansys Maxwell’s 3D transient T-Omega solver are widely known. This application note will focus on an unusual winding setup, where different windings share the same conduction path, and will offer tips and tricks needed to achieve meaningful results.

Challenges

Successful laser processing depends on accurate prediction of the optical field distribution of the laser’s focus. Some laser processing system components can introduce aberrations (distortions) in the laser beam that elongate the focal position of the beam beyond its intended circular presentation. As a result, a reduced level of precision is created by effectively shifting or dispersing the laser’s intended path. Stock lenses often produce aberrations that are within the margin of tolerance for standard optical systems, but not for high-powered lasers. In many optical applications, customizing the light source helps compensate for these aberrations. For laser systems, that isn’t an option. During processing, focus material (called the “bulk”) can also produce spherical aberrations that affect precision — particularly when processing thick objects.

Ansys Products Used

• opticStudio Premium

Engineering Solution

To solve these challenges required selecting or building a lens with properties that offset aberrations unique to a specific optical design. Ray tracing analysis was conducted on proposed designs at each step of development to find factors that would yield a system with the precision required to process brittle materials. The team used ray tracing algorithms in OpticStudio, then selected the processing condition to test specific system parameters — including lens, processing depth, and spatial light modulator offset — that featured negative aberrations and offset aberrations quantified during OpticStudio analysi

Benefits

• Using an open-source solution resulted in high-quality laser systems that can quickly and reliably process bulk objects with minimum validation errors.
• Iterating processing conditions with negative aberrations in OpticStudio cleared a path forward to determining the best conditions for enabling the ultrafast laser processing design solution.
• Successful ray tracing in OpticStudio generated data that could be used to inform other system design areas, including requirements critical for processing bulk materials in emerging forms of manufacturing.