Deep UV high-value manufacturing laser instruments

In this instrument development project we will be designing, constructing and testing two laser systems producing UV light pulses with sufficient energy to mark, cut or drill various non-ferrous engineering materials, be it removing small amounts precisely or in a wholesale manner that accompanies an explosion of the target material. The key advantages of the proposed systems are that they will be efficient and offer unique properties for the emitted light that cannot be found in any other laser system in the world. The first is the colour, or wavelength, of the light that will be shorter than almost all other solid-state laser systems; next and for just one of the instruments, the energy in each pulse and their frequency of arrival will be comparable to the smaller industrial-standard excimer gas lasers, which are used for many processes in the electronics manufacturing industry but rely on toxic and corrosive gases and very high voltage discharges to generate the UV light; while the second instrument will have one thousand times less energy per pulse than the first, it will deliver the same number more pulses per second, making it very useful for rapid precision micro-processing, where speed and accuracy are a premium.
For us to be able to make these novel laser systems we will exploit an old technology that has re-emerged as a potential platform architecture, cryogenic cooling. Cryogenic cooling applied to high energy laser systems with high average powers has become accepted as the credible route toward laser driven fusion reactors and extreme-peak-power laser facilities (NIF - https://lasers.llnl.gov/, DiPOLE - at STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) http://www.stfc.ac.uk, HiLASE - http://www.hilase.cz), clearly evidence of the potential efficiency of the approach. Employing this method we will develop a platform technology that underpins both of the systems detailed above and will enable the unique characteristics of our proposed manufacturing laser instruments. At the end of the project we will have developed a clear route for transferring the knowledge to enable the manufacturing of these lasers and begun testing their performance for materials processing in collaboration with UK laser micro-processing industrial partners.

The project is to design and build novel, efficient, power-scalable laser systems generating Deep Ultra Violet (DUV) light, targeting materials processing applications.
The main beneficiaries of the proposed research will be:
(1) the laser research community
(2) the UK laser-based manufacturing sector
(3) UK-based laser industry
(4) materials' scientists

To expand on how they will benefit:

(1) Solid-state laser systems operating in the UV wavelength regime still present considerable challenges in their manufacture. The intended operational modes for the proposed systems will be novel and ground breaking in their performance. We will leverage this project to enhance our links with the UK central laser facility who is investing heavily in the development of cryogenic lasers, which will work to both our advantages for future collaboration and the UK position in the field. The outcomes of the project will contribute a great deal to the body of knowledge available to the laser community and give the UK yet another lead in a vibrant research field. Our work will be presented in highly rated optics and lasers journals and international conferences, potentially leading to future collaborations and new research directions.

(2) The scope of the call is to build instruments that enhance the UK's manufacturing capabilities potential. The proposed instruments will provide novel laser materials processing tools, suitable for micro-processing and macro-processing with UV light. A key aspect of the applications focus of the project will be provided by the collaboration with UK based laser micro-machining company, Laser Micromachining Limited, who will steer the instrument specifications for developing new processes and systems for precision laser machining.

(3) We will develop two new laser systems that will be directly applicable to laser materials processing (for which the total global Market represents a ~$3.5B (2014) portfolio). The partnership with UK laser manufacturer Litron Lasers Ltd, will provide a direct route for technology transfer of successful outcomes of the project. This company will be crucial in providing guidance to the practicalities of laser products and user requirements at an early phase in the fundamental development and ultimately they will be in a position to take a global lead in a novel laser platform technology. This will bolster the UK laser manufacturing industry, which currently has a relatively small share of manufacturing lasers for the materials processing Market.

(4) As the instruments being developed will be designed for laser processing, clearly those working in the field of materials science will also benefit from the outcomes. This will primarily be through the development of new possibilities in terms of ablation parameters, materials that can be worked with and the rates at which these can be removed or deposited onto other substrates (e.g. Pulsed Laser Deposition). Once commissioned the instruments will be tested for their potential in developing new materials processing techniques and hopefully lead to new collaborations with other groups and manufacturing centres (e.g. Centre for Innovation Manufacturing in Ultra Precision, Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Laser Based Processing) working on this topic.