ENERGY RESILIENT MANUFACTURING 2: SPATIO-TEMPORAL BEAM TAILORED FIBRE LASERS FOR ENERGY RESILIENT MANUFACTURING
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC)
Abstract
This innovative proposal seeks a ten-fold improvement in the energy efficiency and speed of laser based manufacturing. Exploiting the most recent advances in optical fibre communication technology we will develop a new generation of fibre lasers offering unprecedented levels of simultaneous control of the spatial, temporal and polarisation properties of the output beam. This will allow machinists to optimise the laser for particular light:matter interactions and to maximise the efficiency of each pulse in laser-based materials processing for the first time, enabling a step-change in manufacturing control and novel low-energy manufacturing processes.
We believe that order of magnitide reductions in energy usage should be possible for many laser processes relative to the current generation of fibre lasers used in manufacturing today, (which themselves are already at least x2 more efficient than other diode-pumped solid-state lasers, and more than x10 more efficient than other laser technologies still in use in laser machine shops (e.g. flash-lamp pumped YAGs)). Importantly, the new control functionalities enabled should also allow laser based techniques to replace highly energy-inefficient mechanical processes currently used for certain high value manufacturing tasks and in particular in ultrafine polishing which will represent an important focus of the application work to be performed at the IfM.
Lasers offering such exquiste control of the beam parameters at high peak and average powers, have the potential to be disruptive in a number of application spaces beyond industrial laser processing - in particular in sensing, imaging, medicine, defence and high energy physics and we will look to investigate opportunities to exploit our technology in these areas as the project evolves.
We believe that order of magnitide reductions in energy usage should be possible for many laser processes relative to the current generation of fibre lasers used in manufacturing today, (which themselves are already at least x2 more efficient than other diode-pumped solid-state lasers, and more than x10 more efficient than other laser technologies still in use in laser machine shops (e.g. flash-lamp pumped YAGs)). Importantly, the new control functionalities enabled should also allow laser based techniques to replace highly energy-inefficient mechanical processes currently used for certain high value manufacturing tasks and in particular in ultrafine polishing which will represent an important focus of the application work to be performed at the IfM.
Lasers offering such exquiste control of the beam parameters at high peak and average powers, have the potential to be disruptive in a number of application spaces beyond industrial laser processing - in particular in sensing, imaging, medicine, defence and high energy physics and we will look to investigate opportunities to exploit our technology in these areas as the project evolves.
Planned Impact
The provision of a single MOPA fibre laser architecture allowing both broad and precise control of all key attributes (temporal pulse shape, spatial mode profile and polarisation) as needed to establish effective and efficient light:matter interactions which will deliver the most sophisticated laser manufacturing solution seen to date with the potential to revolutionise the way that lasers are used in industry in the future. We anticipate that order of magnitude improvements in laser processing energy efficiency should be possible by exploiting such concepts. Ultimately it could lead to laser systems auto-tuning beam parameters to a particular process, i.e. to produce laser systems with intelligence. This concept is breath-taking in its potential for delivering quantum leaps in manufacturing capability.
On the basis of the latest annual fibre laser sales and growth figures (and making a few bold but not unreasonable assumptions regarding laser usage and industrial uptake) we estimate that if successful we might ultimately save as much as 1-10 TWhrs of electricity per annum simply by replacing all future fibre laser sales with ERM-fibre lasers. Even greater energy savings should be possible if various mechanical processes can be replaced by laser based techniques by virtue of the new capabilities we develop. In order to help maximise the likelihood of impact we have brought SPI Lasers Ltd on board as a project partner to provide advise in terms of the industrial laser market, to give practical advise in terms of packaging and thermal management of fibre lasers, to assist in beam diagnostics, and to provide a local application lab test bed for early processing trials.
The laser technology developed within the project should also be applicable to a range of other applications and we are already discussing aspects of potential interest with various medical/biological researcher end users as mentioned previously. The fibre laser research also has potential to impact other important areas of fundamental science and engineering.
On the basis of the latest annual fibre laser sales and growth figures (and making a few bold but not unreasonable assumptions regarding laser usage and industrial uptake) we estimate that if successful we might ultimately save as much as 1-10 TWhrs of electricity per annum simply by replacing all future fibre laser sales with ERM-fibre lasers. Even greater energy savings should be possible if various mechanical processes can be replaced by laser based techniques by virtue of the new capabilities we develop. In order to help maximise the likelihood of impact we have brought SPI Lasers Ltd on board as a project partner to provide advise in terms of the industrial laser market, to give practical advise in terms of packaging and thermal management of fibre lasers, to assist in beam diagnostics, and to provide a local application lab test bed for early processing trials.
The laser technology developed within the project should also be applicable to a range of other applications and we are already discussing aspects of potential interest with various medical/biological researcher end users as mentioned previously. The fibre laser research also has potential to impact other important areas of fundamental science and engineering.
Organisations
- University of Southampton (Lead Research Organisation)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- University of Queensland (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- Fujikura (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON (Collaboration)
- TRUMPF (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
Publications
Zhang, Betty Meng
(2017)
Arbitrary picosecond pulse shaping in a radially polarized Yb-fiber MOPA beyond 10 W
in 2017 16th International Conference on Optical Communications & Networks (Icocn 2017)
Pangovski K
(2017)
Pulse energy packing effects on material transport during laser processing of $$<1|1|1>$$ < 1 | 1 | 1 > silicon
in Applied Physics A
Herdzik K
(2020)
Multimodal spectral focusing CARS and SFG microscopy with a tailored coherent continuum from a microstructured fiber
in Applied Physics B
Lin.D
(2020)
High power, electronically-controlled, source of user-defined vortex and vector light beams based on a few-mode fibre amplifier
in arXiv: Optics, 2020
Xu D
(2021)
Widely-tunable synchronisation-free picosecond laser source for multimodal CARS, SHG, and two-photon microscopy.
in Biomedical optics express
Feng Y
(2018)
Robust Phase Retrieval Using Group-Delay- Dispersion-Scanned Second-Harmonic Generation Demonstrated in a Femtosecond Fiber Chirped-Pulse Amplification System
in IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics
Allen T
(2018)
Ultrafast laser-scanning optical resolution photoacoustic microscopy at up to 2 million A-lines per second
in Journal of Biomedical Optics
Grant-Jacob J
(2019)
Fibre-optic based particle sensing via deep learning
in Journal of Physics: Photonics
Feehan J
(2020)
Decoherence due to XPM-assisted Raman amplification for polarization or wavelength offset pulses in all-normal dispersion supercontinuum generation
in Journal of the Optical Society of America B
Lin D
(2022)
The generation of femtosecond optical vortex beams with megawatt powers directly from a fiber based Mamyshev oscillator
in Nanophotonics
Lin D
(2020)
Reconfigurable structured light generation in a multicore fibre amplifier.
in Nature communications
Feehan JS
(2020)
Noise-related polarization dynamics for femto and picosecond pulses in normal dispersion fibers.
in Optics express
Allen TJ
(2020)
High pulse energy fibre laser as an excitation source for photoacoustic tomography.
in Optics express
Zhang BM
(2017)
Demonstration of arbitrary temporal shaping of picosecond pulses in a radially polarized Yb-fiber MOPA with > 10 W average power.
in Optics express
Lin D
(2017)
Radially and azimuthally polarized nanosecond Yb-doped fiber MOPA system incorporating temporal shaping
in Optics Letters
Ren Z
(2021)
Compact chirped-pulse amplification systems based on highly Tm3+-doped germanate fiber.
in Optics letters
Sidharthan R
(2020)
Ultra-low NA step-index large mode area Yb-doped fiber with a germanium doped cladding for high power pulse amplification.
in Optics letters
Lin D
(2018)
106 W, picosecond Yb-doped fiber MOPA system with a radially polarized output beam.
in Optics letters
Ji K
(2023)
Controlled generation of picosecond-pulsed higher-order Poincaré sphere beams from an ytterbium-doped multicore fiber amplifier
in Photonics Research
Lin D
(2021)
High-power, electronically controlled source of user-defined vortex and vector light beams based on a few-mode fiber amplifier
in Photonics Research
Sidharthan R
(2020)
Low NA Ge-Clad Step-Index Yb-Doped Fiber for High Power Picosecond Laser Pulses
Lin D
(2020)
Beam Shaping with a Multicore Fiber Amplifier
| Description | We have discovered in this project that it is possible to shape the optical field of laser light emitted from a fibre laser with exquisite precision to suit/optimise specific materials processing applications. For example we found that beams with ring shaped modes can be used to increase the rate of material removal during laser cutting and in conjunction with temporal pulse shaping to control the detailed dynamics of the light:matter interaction. Energy savings for laser cutting and polishing were demonstrated relative to conventional laser offering gaussian shaped output spatial modes and no-pulse shape control. |
| Exploitation Route | We are in frequent dialogue with local laser companies and this provides the most likely route to commercial exploitation. By working with end users at Cambridge we have made the general industrial laser machining community aware of the concepts of spatio-temporal beam shaped fibre lasers and of the potential for low energy requirement materials processing. We have just secured funding to take the spatial and temporal beam shaping concepts developed in this project more firmly into the field of medical imaging. Working with imaging experts and end users (including medical practitioners) we expect to prove the merits of the laser technology we have developed into the healthcare arena (see funding section of this report for further details). |
| Sectors | Energy,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| Description | EPSRC Prosperity Partnerships: Transformative Imaging for Quantitative Biology (TIQBio) Partnership |
| Amount | £2,134,258 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/V038036/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2021 |
| End | 05/2025 |
| Description | Lighting the Way to a Healthy Nation - Optical 'X-rays' for Walk Through Diagnosis & Therapy |
| Amount | £5,577,754 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/T020997/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2020 |
| End | 05/2025 |
| Description | Self-organized light in multicore optical fibers: a route to scalable high-power lasers and all-optical signal processing |
| Amount | £668,181 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/T019441/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2020 |
| End | 03/2023 |
| Description | Smart Fibre Optics High-Power Photonics (HiPPo) |
| Amount | £6,249,535 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/W028786/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2022 |
| End | 08/2027 |
| Description | Collaboration UCL Medical Department |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Development of a laser for photoacoustic medical imaging. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Demonstration of photoacoustic medical imaging using a fibre laser. |
| Impact | Publishable research results still being collected. |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | Collaboration on industrial materials processing with Cambridge University |
| Organisation | University of Cambridge |
| Department | Institute for Manufacturing |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Provision of a spatio-temporal pulsed laser for testing light matter interactions and ultimately for laser materials processing trials. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Provision of an stroboscopic imaging system to measure the interaction of a single pulse with a material surface. Expertise on laser processing opportunities and access to associated characterisation technology/end users. |
| Impact | Initial experiments still in train. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Collaboration with Fujikura Ltd on multicore doped optical fibres |
| Organisation | Fujikura |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The development of rare earth doped multicore fibres and associated beam combined fibre laser demonstrations. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Supply of high concentration ytterbium doped preforms with excellent length homogeneity. |
| Impact | High profile academic papers anticipated. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Collaboration with Nanyang Technical University (Singapore) on fibre fabrication |
| Organisation | Nanyang Technological University |
| Country | Singapore |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Laser and amplifier development work - in particular thulium doped fibre amplifier and laser studies, testing of large mode area ytterbium doped fibres and associated laser development, hollow core fibre studies. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Fabrication of various bespoke fibres including thulium doped fibres of varying designs and compositions, large mode area high concentration ytterbium doped fibres and various hollow core fibres. Provision of two visiting PhD students ( two x 2 years stay at Southampton). |
| Impact | Various high profile papers as listed in the individual supporting grants |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Collaboration with the Institute for Life Sciences (University of Southampton - Prof. Sumeet Mahajan) in the area of multimodal medical imaging using fibre lasers |
| Organisation | University of Southampton |
| Department | Institute for Life Sciences |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Development of optical fibres and fibre laser sources for biomedical imaging, supervision of a joint PhD student (funded 50:50 by the Optoelectronics Research Centre/Institute for Life Sciences) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Lab access, imaging experiments on biological/phantom structures, data interpretation and design of experiments/target setting, joint PhD supervision). |
| Impact | Academic papers in press. The collaboration is strongly multidisciplinary (Photonics/Life Sciences). |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Development of an LCOS spatial mode shaper |
| Organisation | University of Queensland |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Specification of mode-shaper requirements, provision of parts, laser tests incorporating spatial mode shaper device. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Development and build of modeshaper, support of use of device in laser/material processing experiments. |
| Impact | Build of mode-shaper unit still in train. |
| Start Year | 2015 |