Yes, to raise the temperature of a material in which ignition can occur.
I know the cheap hobby laser machines use a 405-450nm module, which works decent on stuff like wood. Now since it's about half the wavelength, is it more affective in cutting / etching these materials with a lower optical output power.
CO2 lasers are typically at 10.6 microns. They can cut metal but you need at least 100W and RF pumping. Metal-cutting lasers are more commonly fiber lasers with wavelengths of ~1050nm.
That's just straight up energy transfer. Doesn't matter exactly what wavelength you use provided you dump enough energy in, and this one is so inefficient it doesn't make sense.
“ is it more affective in cutting / etching these materials with a lower optical output power.”
Probably because it’s more likely to be absorbed.
On the other hand, absorption can’t be > 100%. So a longer wavelength laser an cut just as well for the same power as long as the mtls absorbs all the photons
I know the cheap hobby laser machines use a 405-450nm module, which works decent on stuff like wood. Now since it's about half the wavelength, is it more affective in cutting / etching these materials with a lower optical output power.