Recently, several institutions and enterprises under the EU funded LAMpAS project announced that they have jointly developed a high-speed direct laser interference mapping (DLIP) polygon scanning head, which is mainly used to produce laser textured surfaces in large quantities.
The scanner was jointly developed by Scanlab and Technische University? T Dresden and can produce a size of about 3.5 μ M's regular fine surface structure is 8 times smaller than that of traditional polygon scanner.
It is reported that the LAMpAS project was established in 2019 and has received a grant of 5.1 million euros under the EU's Horizon 2020 program. The goal of this project is to develop the potential of laser structures and make their applications deployable at an affordable cost at the industrial level. Its goal is to improve the efficiency, flexibility and throughput of the structure through the newly developed high-power ultrashort pulse laser system and advanced optical concepts.
The LAMpAS structure is inspired by nature, and its precision size can even be less than 1 μ m. It can provide customized surface regular pattern processing functions for applications, including hydrophobic, fingerprint resistant, decorative and easy to clean finishing of ovens, refrigerators and other household appliances.
Andr é s Lasagni, professor of Dresden University of Technology and coordinator of LAMpAS project, added: "These high-precision features are necessary, because the function of materials we want to improve can be enhanced by reducing the size of specific objects."
Specifically, the DLIP process used in the LAMpAS project involves the combination of multiple lasers, which is conducive to flexibly controlling the intensity distribution of laser energy, and its resolution can reach the submicron level. When two laser beams are combined, a linear intensity distribution will be generated, in which the transverse distance between the lines can be controlled by the angle of intersection between the two laser beams.
The researchers said that in order to produce patterns with short space distance, the interception angle needs to be large enough, but unfortunately, traditional polygon scanners cannot achieve these effects. In addition, longer laser wavelengths also require greater angles. Therefore, they need to develop a very special optical device to obtain the required angle.
In addition, since the LAMpAS project has also done a lot of hard work to improve the laser power, the above partners have also developed a unique laser device, which can adjust the power level required for matching and combine with the newly released DLIP polygon scanning head.
Dr. Robert Baumann, also from Dresden University of Technology, said: "It is a challenging task to design an optical configuration and ensure that it can receive more than 1kW of optical power from an ultra short (picosecond) pulse laser source, which we have not yet done."
At present, LASEA, a Belgian laser precision processing equipment manufacturer, is integrating the final LAMpAS system. It is reported that the LAMpAS system will also include two monitoring systems, which can be compatible with two different technologies to ensure the stability of the construction process and the quality of the final surface characteristics. Therefore, in addition to increasing the output of laser textured surface production, the innovation strategy of partners also includes early detection of process failures and unstable factors.
Source: OFweek
