Recognizing the most technically innovative new products of the year

Prize

The annual award recognizes the enterprising companies and individuals who have refused to accept the status quo and have instead pushed the limits of technology to develop new photonic products and processes. 25 winning products were chosen from over hundreds of entries submitted from around the world. The ceremony honoring the Distinction in Photonics and Circle of Excellence award winners took place Jan. 24 in San Jose, California at the Fairmont Hotel.

Project

FEMTOSOURCE™ scientific™ XL ultrafast oscillator

Although  the feasibility of using femtosecond laser pulses for a broad range of machining applications has been known for a decade, the technology´s widespread implementation in industry has been hindered by the lack of suitable light sources.

FEMTOLASERS Produktions GmbH of Vienna, Austria has designed a technique that enables the generation of high-energy femtosecond pulses directly from an oscillator with no need for amplification. Th FEMTOSOURCE™ scientific™ XL chirped pulse Ti:S oscillator enables micro- and nanomachining with a megaherz pulse train at nearly full average power.

The compact system, measuring 900 x 450 mm, incorporates a pump laser with a patented resonator configuration and an active feedback loop for stable, longtime laser operation. Generating 40 fs, 100 nJ pulses with a repetition rate of 11 MHz and a bandwidth of > 50 nm, it can be used with virtually any type of material and for application ranging from drilling holes in stainless steel injection nozzles to fabricating photonic crystals or waveguides. Other potential uses are time-resolved spectroscopy, two-photon microscopy and amplifier seeding.