chanelink logo
CHANELINK
English

Scientists use glass to create femtosecond lasers

1139
2023-09-28 17:12:33
See translation

Image source: Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland

 

Science and Technology Daily, Beijing, September 27th (Reporter Zhang Jiaxin) Commercial femtosecond lasers are manufactured by placing optical components and their mounting bases on a substrate, which requires strict alignment of optical components. So, is it possible to manufacture femtosecond lasers entirely from glass? According to the latest issue of Optics magazine, scientists at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland have successfully achieved this, with lasers no larger than credit cards and easier to align.

Researchers stated that due to the lower thermal expansion of glass compared to traditional substrates, it is a stable material. Therefore, they chose glass as the substrate and used commercial femtosecond lasers to etch special grooves on the glass to accurately place the basic components of the laser. Even in precision manufacturing at the micron level, the grooves and components themselves are not precise enough to achieve laser quality alignment. In other words, the reflector is not fully aligned, so at this stage, their glass device cannot be used as a laser.

So, researchers further designed etching to position a mirror in a groove with micro mechanical bending, which can locally twist the mirror when irradiated by femtosecond laser. By aligning the mirror in this way, they ultimately created a stable, small-scale femtosecond laser.

Despite its small size, the peak power of the laser is about 1 kilowatt, and the time to emit pulses is less than 200 femtoseconds, which is so short that light cannot pass through human hair.

This method of permanently aligning free space optical components through laser material interaction can be extended to various optical circuits, with extreme alignment resolutions as low as sub nanometer level.

 

Reprinted from：LDWORLD

Related Recommendations

  • Gas reduction technology of fiber laser helps to improve the cutting quality of low-carbon steel

    The Mitsubishi GX-F Advanced series of artificial intelligence enabled fiber lasers now use patented gas and burr reduction technology to help improve cutting quality while reducing gas consumption when cutting low-carbon steel.Mitsubishi Laser's proprietary Agr Mix nozzle technology does not require an external mixing tank or high-pressure oxygen. The combination of low-pressure air and nitrogen ...

    2024-02-14
    See translation

  • Progress in research on intrinsic flexible and stretchable optoelectronic devices in the Institute of Chemistry

    Organic polymer semiconductor materials, due to their unique molecular structure and weak van der Waals interactions, are endowed with the characteristics of soluble processing and easy flexibility, and have potential applications in portable and implantable medical monitoring devices. A highly flexible, skin conformal, and excellent spatial resolution X-ray detector is expected to be integrated w...

    2024-04-09
    See translation

  • Scientists decipher the code for extending the lifespan of perovskite solar technology

    The latest research led by the University of Surrey shows that alumina (Al2O3) nanoparticles can significantly enhance the lifespan and stability of perovskite solar cells, extending the service life of such high-efficiency energy devices tenfold.Although perovskite solar cells have advantages such as low cost and light weight compared to traditional silicon-based technologies, their commercial po...

    03-03
    See translation

  • Dutch satellite instruments have achieved milestone achievements in transmitting laser data to Earth

    TNO wrote that this is the first time Dutch technology has been used to send data from a satellite to a ground station press release on Earth. This technology uses invisible laser signals to achieve faster and safer data flow compared to ubiquitous communication radio frequencies.Kees Buijsrogge, Director of TNO Space, said, "This critical milestone marks a significant achievement for the Netherla...

    2024-01-25
    See translation

  • Trumpf announces four personnel changes

    Recently, global laser giant Germany's Trumpf announced four personnel changes, namely Claudio Santopietro as the head of intelligent factory consulting and automation, Kevin Cuseo as the head of software sales, Julian Schorpp as the product manager for automatic bending products, and Adam Simons as the head of additive manufacturing for Trumpf North America.According to relevant information, Clau...

    2024-11-26
    See translation