Project description Photonics Show the project objective Hide the project objective Although hardly visible in daily life, today precision laser micro-machining is employed in a broad and rapidly growing range of medical and industrial applications significantly affecting everybody's life. Short and ultrashort pulsed lasers enable producing structures with sub-micron accuracy, for example diesel injection nozzles which help reducing air pollution significantly when compared to nozzles made by conventional fabrication techniques. So far, most of the powerful industrial ultrafast laser sources are operating in the picosecond range, which is sufficient for precision micro-machining of metals. On the other hand, to achieve optimum precision in micro-machining of transparent materials like glass and ceramics, pulse durations in the order of 100 femtoseconds are required. Therefore, the main objective of the project is to demonstrate the feasibility of industrial high-average power ultrafast Ti:sapphire (Ti:Sa) lasers and their excellent qualification for demanding high-productivity precision laser mate-rial processing applications. To achieve the targeted high output powers, the thin-disk (TD) geometry shall be employed, which already enabled the efficient generation of up to 740 W of cw fundamental mode power from one Yb:YAG crystal. Symmetrical double-sided cooling with two transparent diamond heat spreaders shall be used to optimize the cooling of the thin Ti:Sa crystal. Within the project, two ultrafast Ti:Sa TD laser systems, one with chirped pulse amplification (CPA) to obtain high-energy pulses and the other without CPA for high repetition rates, both with a maximum average output power of at least 200 W at a pulse duration of well below 100 fs shall be demonstrated. The CPA system, comprising a multipass TD amplifier, shall achieve a pulse energy of 10 mJ at 20 kHz repetition rate. The multipass amplifier will be pumped by two nanosecond pulsed frequency-doubled solid-state lasers developed within the project which are operating at 532 nm with an average output power of 300 W each. The high-repetition rate system shall be a high-power TD oscillator with a pulse energy of 20 µJ at about 10 MHz. A commercial cw Yb:YAG TD laser with intracavity frequency doubling emitting about 500 W at 515 nm shall be used as pump source. To demonstrate the excellent qualification of the ultrafast oscillator for fast, ultra-precise micromachining of transparent materials, high-speed cutting of glass, e.g. Gorilla® glass, which is widely used for mobile phones and tablets, will be investigated as high-volume reference application. With the CPA system, which is especially well suited for ultra-precise drilling, the ultra-high aspect ratio percussion and single-shot drilling of transparent substrates shall be investigated. Other potential applications, including – but not limited to – large area precision volume structuring for microfluidics or integrated optics, enabled by the new powerful femtosecond sources will also be studied in the project. Fields of science engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringair pollution engineeringnatural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physicsultrafast lasersengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunicationsmobile phonesnatural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physicspulsed lasersengineering and technologymaterials engineeringceramics Programme(s) FP7-ICT - Specific Programme "Cooperation": Information and communication technologies Topic(s) ICT-2013.3.2 - Photonics Call for proposal FP7-ICT-2013-11 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme CP - Collaborative project (generic) Coordinator UNIVERSITY OF STUTTGART EU contribution € 937 119,00 Address KEPLERSTRASSE 7 70174 Stuttgart Germany See on map Region Baden-Württemberg Stuttgart Stuttgart, Stadtkreis Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Participants (7) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS France EU contribution € 342 979,00 Address RUE MICHEL ANGE 3 75794 Paris See on map Region Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data THALES OPTRONIQUE SAS France EU contribution € 648 689,00 Address AVENUE GAY-LUSSAC 2 78990 ELANCOURT See on map Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Total cost No data ELEMENT SIX LIMITED United Kingdom EU contribution € 447 159,00 Address KINGS RIDE PARK 2 SL5 8BP ASCOT See on map Region South East (England) Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Berkshire Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data KITE INNOVATION (EUROPE) LIMITED United Kingdom EU contribution € 58 610,00 Address 3M BUCKLEY INNOVATION CENTRE HD1 3BD Huddersfield See on map Region Yorkshire and the Humber West Yorkshire Calderdale and Kirklees Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data OXFORD LASERS LIMITED United Kingdom EU contribution € 341 518,00 Address MOORBROOK PARK UNIT 8 OX11 7HP DIDCOT See on map Region South East (England) Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Oxfordshire Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Total cost No data M-SQUARED LASERS LIMITED United Kingdom EU contribution € 263 286,00 Address VENTURE BUILDING 1 KELVIN CAMPUS MARYHILL ROAD WEST OF SCOTLAND SCIENCE PARK G20 0SP Glasgow See on map Region Scotland West Central Scotland Glasgow City Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data UNIVERSITE DE FRANCHE-COMTE France EU contribution € 90 640,00 Address 1 RUE CLAUDE GOUDIMEL 25000 Besancon See on map Region Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Franche-Comté Doubs Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data