Gooch & Housego announces the start of work on the HALO (High power Adaptable Laser beams for materials processing) project

Date Announced: 06 Dec 2012

Gooch & Housego announces the start of work on the HALO (High power Adaptable Laser beams for materials processing) technology transfer project. The project, inaugurated in September and funded as part of the EU FP7 program, will develop and apply research into fiber laser welding technology with a view to improving both efficiencies and capabilities in this area.

The use of lasers in industry has grown hugely in the last five years however in order to be truly competitive in a global market, the European manufacturing sector needs more effective materials processing capability. The HALO project will then look at how both CW and pulsed laser systems can improve efficiencies in welding, cutting sheet metal and glass (with thickness ranging from <1mm to 25mm). HALO aims to put in place the necessary elements to enable significant advances in lasers for material processing. These elements include:

• Components tailored for adaptable beams and new beam shapes
• New approaches to adaptable hollow beam sources at new wavelengths
• Techniques for beam shaping and forming
• Process optimization for adaptable beam processing using IT-based meta-models
• Adaptable jet-assisted laser cutting

EU FP7 is funding initiative from the European Commission with overall aim of developing technologies and their applications. The overriding aim is to improve the sustainability of manufacturing in Europe, making it competitive in a global market and increasing employability in this sector. "HALO is one of a number of initiatives funded by the European Union which aims to undertake world class photonics research into materials processing with the aim of increasing European manufacturing's competitiveness in a global market." Christoph Helmrath, European Commission Project Officer.

The HALO project runs until 2015 and is led by optical technology providers Gooch & Housego. Other participants include:

• Fraunhofer (Society and Institute for Laser Technology)
• Laser Expertise Ltd
• Luela Tekniska Universitet LTU
• Synova SA


• Trumpf (Laser & Machine Tools divisions)
• University of Southampton
• Vivid Components

For further information on HALO please visit www.halo-project.eu

Gooch & Housego is a manufacturer of critical optical assemblies, sub-systems and components, in addition to light measurement instrumentation and calibration services, based upon key enabling optical technologies. World leading design, development and manufacturing expertise across a broad, complementary range of technologies:

• Precision Optics
• Optical Coatings
• Acousto Optics


• RF Electronics
• Electro Optics
• Fiber Optics
• Crystal Growth
• Optical radiation measurement

Gooch & Housego works consultatively with clients in a range of market sectors including aerospace and defense, biomedical, industrial and scientific. The organization is proud of its quality assurance and of its ISO9001 and SC21 accreditation and is working to achieve AS9100 standard. For more information, please visit marketing@goochandhousego.com

Web Site: www.goochandhousego.com