The scanner technology is an attractive alternative to moving the scanning head or the workpiece for the beam positioning. Here, the laser beam is deflected and positioned by one or two galvonometric rotating mirrors. The focusing is either effected after the deflection unit via an optimized lens system or, like in the remote welding, via a focusing lens in front of the scanner head.

Compared to moving workpiece axes the scanner welding realizes a much higher processing speed with typically lower investment costs. The limiting factor in scanner technology is the size of the processing field. This and the focus diameter depend on the focal distance of the optical systems and the beam characteristics of the laser.

Because of the long focal length of the focusing lens, small deviations of the mirror cause long paths in the plane, and thus extremely fast positioning of the focal spot at different welding positions during the remote welding.