Bohong has developed a new type of ultrafast laser for material processing

Chief researcher Clara Saraceno will bring the new laser to the market with the support of ERC funding.

Femtosecond lasers can be used to create high-precision microstructures, such as those required for smartphone displays and various automotive technology applications.

Professor Clara Saraceno from Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany is committed to developing and introducing cheaper and more efficient laser technology to the market.

She has just received a concept validation funding of 150000 euros from the European Research Council (ERC). Her project is called "Ultrafast 2.1 µ m Holmium Lasers for GHz Ablation" ("Giga2u") and is scheduled to run for 18 months.

Faster and more efficient
A standard femtosecond laser emits light pulses with a wavelength of one micrometer and a duration in the range of hundreds of femtoseconds. The energy of each pulse is high, and the system is expensive.

A new type of laser that is faster, more efficient, and at the same time cheaper may become a key technology in the market, "commented Saraceno, head of the Bohong Photonics and Ultrafast Laser Science Group.

Saraceno is currently developing a femtosecond laser with a working wavelength of 2.1 micrometers and a repetition rate of gigahertz.
Compared to shorter wavelength systems currently deployed in industry, this type of light source requires less energy and may be more reliable. They also promised to reduce costs and accelerate production speed. However, so far, these systems have only been used for research applications, such as spectroscopy.

Test market
The "Giga2u" concept validation grant aims to showcase the potential of this technology in industrial applications. This system is mainly used for processing glass and polymers, but it is also used for ablating water-based tissues. The latter may be useful for the future direction of laser surgery applications.

Researchers led by Saraceno hope to develop compact and stable laser prototypes and explore the market potential of this technology. In this process, the group also intends to lay the foundation for establishing a start-up company.

Source: Laser Network