Periodic Reporting for period 3 - PULSE (High-Power Ultrafast LaSErs using Tapered Double-Clad Fibre)
Reporting period: 2021-07-01 to 2022-12-31
The benefits of such developments to the EU will come in the form of faster more economic production, reduced use of harmful chemicals such as those used for chemical etching and securing high-value jobs in manufacturing via globally competitive production processes.
A very high average power kW laser providing ultra-short pulses with excellent beam quality will be developed and brought to the market at highly competitive costs enabling widespread industrial uptake.
By harnessing the unique characteristics of patent protected tapered double-clad fiber amplifiers power-scaled multichannel laser, unparalleled high-power beam qualities, M2<1.1 and pulse energies of 2.5-250µJ will be achieved.
Using state-of-the-art highly stable laser diodes as seed lasers allowing parameter flexibility by ultrafast electrical control of pulse duration and repetition rate will enable a broad range of high-power laser processing application requirements to be met.
An extremely stable advanced all-fiber based configuration allow development of a compact ultrashort pulse laser system. A newly-designed delivery fiber utilising cutting-edge technology of high purity glass material fabrication will be used to capable of handling the very high-power ultrashort pulses, preserving beam quality over several meters distance.
Pioneering technology based on 3D nano-imprint lithography will be exploited to for advanced beam shaping elements to elongate voxels. Together these will provide laser pulse delivery via patented polygon scanner technology capable of handling high-power pulses at speeds of up to 1.5 km/s.
These will enable demonstration in automotive and renewable energy sectors of ultrafast 3D ablation, low-thermal welding of dissimilar metals and faster cost-effective cutting of ultra-hard materials. Exploitation in the form of high-power laser processing systems will immediately follow, benefitting from the unmatched performance data and detailed cost benefit and investment case analysis performed.
Seed lasers, which determine how short and frequent the laser pulses from the system, have been developed and successfully tested for stable operation over a period of several thousand hours with the new pulse amplifying technology delivering 500W from a single fiber amplifier have been developed.
A tuneable semiconductor seed laser has demonstrated pulses can be generated at a rate of up to one billion pulses per second.
An ultra-fast beam scanner has been manufactured and tested, using a pilot laser, to successfully verify the specified scan area and scan speed.
Novel materials which combine the properties of plastics to be moulded and formed with the optical qualities of glass have opened the door to novel micro-optical components with high optical transparency, the ability to withstand high laser powers and precision shapes and features. These new materials can be used to shape laser beams into exotic beam profiles which could provide new capabilities for laser driven processes.
The laser processing demonstrations for automotive manufacture will centre on the Fiat 500, producing new dashboard injection moulded parts and cutting steel elements of the chassis.
The results and knowledge generated by the project are valuable, with two new patents now filed. One is for special optical materials developed by FORTH which do not get overheated and damaged by high-power lasers and can be used for fabrication of micro-optical elements. The second is to protect the new results by Ampliconyx regarding the tapered fiber qualities to generate high quality laser light.
By developing new ways to combine the laser beams from multiples of these powerful sources and synchronising the pulse patterns lasers with kW average power and capabilities far beyond what is currently available will be realised.
With such enormous power it is essential that a means of moving the laser beam very quickly across the materials or surfaces being processed is available. PULSE will develop an advanced scanner with the ability to direct the laser pulses at speeds of more than 1,000 km/second.
This system will have the ability to cut high-quality burr free holes even the hardest materials used in car construction, texture materials at high speeds and weld dissimilar materials for various different applications. Ultimately this will result in reduced waste and unnecessary energy, impacting positively on both the economy and environment in parallel.
The laser, however, is only part of the story, with additional technological advancements already established by the consortium enabling the laser to travel at over 1,000km per second over a material surface, allowing for faster manufacturing processes. This technology can revolutionise the manufacturing industry whilst maintaining Europe’s rightful place at the apex of laser technology.
These new technologies will be demonstrated in automotive applications to cut the very hard steel used for car chassis with reduced materials and precise patterns and to produce new tactile injection moulded parts by laser texturing the surface of the moulds which can eliminate the harmful chemicals used in existing chemical etching.
The welding of thermally conductive copper pipes to aluminium sheets for solar thermal absorbers used in renewable energy systems can also be carried out using these lasers at significantly higher speeds than existing laser welding systems.
Together these results will allow PULSE to develop an unparalleled complete laser system with unparalleled output power and speed for advanced manufacturing.