https://cdn.specpick.com/images/photonics/trumpf_laser_wall.jpg712370
Trumpf, the German laser and machine tool provider will unveil a new way to integrate ultrashort-pulsed lasers with fiber delivery at upcoming LASER: World of Photonics show in Munich from June 26 - 29, 2017. In a pre-show company announcement, Trumpf stated that the “game-changing” development promised a revolution in the field, by overcoming the problem that ultrashort pulses tend to ablate and damage the glass out of which optical fibers are typically made. At the event, Trumpf will present a technology study that has the potential to revolutionize laser material processing with ultrashort pulse lasers.
According to the company, since the new ultrashort pulse laser transfers energy to a target material in a short time, it generates minimal thermal effects, offering enormous potential for extremely precise cold materials processing, without any distortion caused by melting. However, the incompatibility with conventional glass fibers, coupled with the relatively high cost and less robust nature of the technology compared with other sources means that those advantages are yet to transfer to industry in significant volumes.
Trumpf’s current line-up of laser products includes the TruMicro series, which features nanosecond, picosecond and femtosecond pulse sources. Femtosecond versions of the TruMicro 5000 laser offer up to 125 µJ energy with a 900 fs pulse, and an average output power of 120 W.
Apart from the ultrashort pulse delivery technique, Trumpf will also debut a diode laser said to offer sufficiently good beam quality for industrial applications beyond soldering, hardening and deposition welding, as well as the second release from its new generation of disk lasers for industry. The company’s disk-based Dira series of laser amplifiers for scientific applications will also be on showcase.
The technology, based on cutting-edge research by Ferenc Krausz and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, delivers picosecond pulses with up to 200 mJ of energy – and can be used to generate so-called “few-cycle” pulses in the attosecond regime. Special models with a pulse energy up to the joule level or average powers of a kilowatt are also available upon request.