LASER APPARATUS FOR MATERIAL PROCESSING

Apparatus for material processing, which apparatus comprises a rare-earth doped fibre (1), a laser diode source (2), a short pulse laser (18) and a controller (9), wherein the rare-earth doped fibre (1) is pumped by the lase r diode source (2) to provide optical radiation (10), and the optical radiatio n (10) emitted by the rare-earth doped fibre (1) is combined with optical radiation (11) emitted by the short pulse laser (18), the apparatus being characterised in that the controller (9) synchronizes the optical radiation (10) emitted from the rare-earth doped fibre (1) with the optical radiation (11) emitted by the short pulse laser (18) to provide a plurality of pulses (5) comprising a pre-pulse (21) and a main pulse (22), the average peak powe r (23) of the pre-pulse (21) being greater than the peak power (24) of the mai n pulse (22).