The ultrashort pulse laser as a tool for precision manufacturing is gaining ever wider acceptance among industrial users. This development is due in particular to new or further developments in system technology that allow a significant increase in productivity.
A significant increase in productivity was also the goal of a team from industry and research, which received the Science Prize of the Stifterverband für Verbundforschung at the annual conference of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft on October 9. The team has developed a technology in which a laser beam is split into up to 16 partial beams. These are 16 tools that can be used in parallel and individually controlled for the production of functional surfaces.
Today, fine surface structures are often formed using embossing tools, which requires the use of wet chemical etching processes. In contrast to the etching process, however, the laser processes the structures sequentially, so a single laser is too slow for large surfaces. Using several laser systems in parallel would be feasible, but still too expensive. The process, in which the light of a new ultrashort pulse laser with an average power of 500 W is distributed over 16 (up to 64) partial beams in special optics, now makes cost-effective processing possible. The application potential of the new technology is very high, ranging from battery and hydrogen technology to wind turbines and aircraft wings.
