NANOLASE - Novel Photonic Devices Enabling Ultra-Compact, Ultrafast Fibre Lasers for Cost-Effective Industrial Processing

Ultrafast lasers are fast becoming an essential tool within high-precision manufacturing processes. Fibre lasers, with their compactness and reduced cost of ownership over bulk solid-state systems, have been an enabling technology within high-end markets including consumer-electronics and photo-voltaics manufacture. However, in the vast majority of low-end manufacturing applications where tight production margins are a barrier to high CAPEX, penetration of ultrafast technology is minimal.
The existing low-end solution of longer-pulse (Q-switched) lasers delivers lower precision in manufacturing. Establishing a cost-reduced ultrafast fibre laser technology will drive technology up-take for improved manufacturing in new areas. NANOLASE will address this by developing a novel ultrafast fibre laser oscillator and high power amplifier system which eliminates more than 50% of the high-cost componentry of existing state-of art ultrafast fibre lasers.