FEMTOPLANE - FEMTOsecond fibre oscillator PLANar waveguide amplifiEr laser system to enable advanced industrial materials processing

Femtosecond lasers have become an established tool for ophthalmic laser refractive surgery but their potential for use within industrial materials processing has yest to be realised owing to the laser complexity, lack of robustness for industrial environmentals, size and cost.
Compact, cost-effective femtosecond fibre lasers based on simple, direct amplification architectures have recently started to replace conventional solid-state laser technology within applications requiring modest pulse energy. However, the technology has fundamental limitations in the pulse energy they deliver; a maximum of 5uJ is the commercial state-of-art. FEMTOPLANE will address this limitation, bringing together leading ultrafast fibre laser manufacturers (Fianium Ltd) and world-renowned researchers at Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre to develop a highly novel ultrafast laser platform. Delivering up to 80uJ pulse energy and