First femtosecond laser source from Luxinar

24 Jun 2019

After much anticipation Luxinar has added the LXR 100, the company's first femtosecond laser, to its product portfolio, meaning Luxinar now proudly produces ultrashort pulse lasers in addition to sealed CO₂ laser sources. LXR 100 was officially launched at Laser World of Photonics in Munich, where there was a lot of interest in the product.

The ultrashort laser has come a long way since its first introduction in 1987, revolutionising materials processing. The extremely short pulse width of the laser virtually eliminates heat diffusion to the surroundings of the processed region, which minimises the formation of a heat-affected zone (HAZ), enabling ultrahigh precision micro- and nanofabrication of various components. Most applications for ultrafast lasers are currently found in consumer electronics, medical, automotive, research, aerospace and defence. However, the potential scope is vast and many applications are still in their infancy.

Compared to Luxinar’s sealed CO₂ lasers, which emit light in pulse durations of 2 microseconds to 400 microseconds, the LXR 100 is an ultrashort pulse laser emitting pulses of duration around 1 million to 100 million times shorter.  It is capable of a large dynamic range of average powers, pulse energies and operating modes. The pulse width is between 900 ± 100fs, with a pulse repetition frequency between single shot and 40MHz, and a maximum rated pulse energy of 100µJ.

In a conversation with Jason Lee, R&D Director, he explained, “Our initial focus is on applications in the electronics industry, typically separating glass for mobile screens/tablets.” Jason went on to explain that the LXR 100 can also be used in the automotive industry for drilling fuel injectors for high-end car engines, or in the medical industry for machining out medical stents thereby reducing the risk of infection.

At both the Laser World of Photonics, and Laser Korea, visitors to the booths were interested in the LXR 100.  Luxinar is looking forward to benefitting from some of the potential of this exciting technology.