ALPhANOV incubates Spark Lasers, an innovative start-up company offering picosecond lasers

17 Jun 2015

Spark Lasers, a start-up currently in incubation at ALPhANOV introduces new industrial picosecond lasers which provide precision and reliability in a compact package. Two novel products will be presented at Laser World of Photonics (Munich, June 22-25, 2015) on Alphanov’s booth (B3.261). They are ideally suited for the most promising industrial applications of micromachining such as precision marking, thinfilm ablation, or glass marking and cutting.

Talence, June 17, 2015. Spark Lasers, a start-up currently in incubation at ALPhANOV introduces new industrial picosecond lasers which provide precision and reliability in a compact package. Two novel products will be presented at Laser World of Photonics (Munich, June 22-25, 2015) on Alphanov’s booth (B3.261).

These lasers were conceived in collaboration with Laboratory Charles Fabry of Institut d’Optique based on state of the art in fiber and solid-state lasers. This innovative laser technology enables robust and compact lasers producing high energy picosecond pulses with one of the smallest footprint and lowest weight in the market, facilitating integration in complex systems. Spark picosecond lasers are ideally suited for the most promising industrial applications of micromachining such as precision marking, thin-film ablation, or glass marking and cutting. Most of these processes have been demonstrated in ALPhANOV’s micromachining platform.

The two first products Sirius and Vegas provide an excellent beam quality with a linear polarization at a wavelength of 1064 nm. Vega is a fiber laser producing 100ps pulse durations with an energy exceeding 40 µJ at a repetition rate up to 1 MHz. Sirius produces a pulse duration of less than 10 ps with an energy per pulse reaching 100µJ. Spark products are also available in the visible at 532nm and in the ultraviolet at 355 nm, still in a compact format.

A new laser company called Spark Lasers, managed by Pascal Dupriez, currently manager of the laser division at Alphanov, will be created to produce and commercialize these novel picosecond lasers.

About ALPhANOV

Established in 2007, ALPhANOV is the optics and lasers technology center of the Route des Lasers cluster. It acts as a technology transfer accelerator and uses its expertise and know-how to serve innovative projects with industrial target short and mid-terms. It offers multiple modes of action which enable it to act all along the value chain. Its fields of expertise include laser processes and micromachining, laser sources and fiber components, laser and optical systems and health applications of photonics. www.alphanov.com