Laser technology enables procedures to be continued in minutes, with the laser system process counted in seconds. Thus, today it is possible to perform eye surgery by laser technology to improve people’s vision within minutes. Nevertheless, the main challenges are the cost of the procedure and the patient’s courage to go under the laser system.
According to the World Health Organization, about 1.3 billion people have some form of vision disturbance, herewith, uncorrected refractive error is considered to be one of the most general causes. Possible solutions are eyeglasses and contact lenses, which are ineffective for forgetful people. Therefore, eye therapy by a laser system is an ideal variant.
To be more precise, laser system surgery is a more permanent solution for eye disturbance. Nowadays the laser system-assisted in situ keratomileusis is regarded as one of the most common surgical procedures in eye treatment. Such laser technology was firstly introduced at the beginning of the 1980s, and over 40 million procedures by laser beams have been performed globally since 1991. The principle of laser system operation is based on the creation of a flap in the corneal tissue, after which a laser beam reshapes the cornea through ablation.
In spite of the fact that the principle of laser technology remains the same, however, modern advanced technologies make it possible to apply a femtosecond fiber laser instead of a surgical blade to cut the flap in newer techniques. It should be noted that “the flap creation takes about 20 seconds, while the process of laser beam ablation is 15 to 20 seconds. The entire procedure itself takes 5 to 10 minutes per eye, with two eyes taking 15 to 20 minutes”.
Compared to traditional techniques, the application of laser system makes the ablation process faster. Nevertheless, laser beam surgery is not a perfect procedure, that is why there is a range of accessible results, usually varying at around minus or plus 0.25 or 0.5. It is impossible to provide a perfect zero, but it is not the main purpose. The main purpose is to escape the need for glasses due to laser technology and to become as close to zero as possible.
Finally, the eye surgery by the laser beam from laser systems can be used only by patients under 18 with healthy eyes (no infections or conditions influencing the organ besides the refractive disorder), no pregnant and actively breastfeeding female patients.
Optromix is a manufacturer of laser systems, optical fiber sensors, and optical monitoring systems. We develop and manufacture a broad variety of fiber lasers, СО2 lasers, and other types. We offer simple laser products, as well as sophisticated laser systems with unique characteristics, based on the client’s inquiry.
We manufacture lasers using our technologies based on the advanced research work and patents of the international R&D team. Laser processes are of high quality, high precision, easily-automated manufacturing solutions that provide repeatability and flexibility. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com
The technology of 3D laser system scanning
There is a common opinion that laser technology allows measuring the distance only by directly measuring the “flight” time of the laser beam pulse to the reflecting object and vice versa. This laser technique (called pulse or time-of-flight or TOF) is used mainly in cases where the distances to the desired object are sufficiently large (> 100m). Since the speed of the light emitted by the laser beam is pretty high, it is quite difficult to measure the TOF of light, and therefore the distance, with high accuracy in a single laser beam pulse. Light travels 1 meter in about 3.3 ns, so the accuracy of measuring time should be nanosecond, although the accuracy of measuring the distance will still be tens of centimeters. Specialized microchips are used to measure time intervals with such precision.
However, there are other laser technologies for changing the distance, one of them is a phase one. Compared to the previous one, in this technique, the laser system operates continuously, but the laser beam light is amplitude-modulated by a signal of a certain frequency (usually these frequencies are less than 500 MHz). The laser wavelength remains unchanged (usually 500 — 1100 nm laser system is applied).
The light reflected from the object is received by the photodetector, and its phase is compared with the phase of the reference signal from the laser system. A delay during the wave spread causes a phase shift, which is measured by the range measuring system. This operates only if the distance to the object is less than half the wavelength of the modulating signal.
If the modulation frequency is 10 MHz, then the measured distance can achieve up to 15 meters, and when the distance changes from 0 to 15 meters, the phase difference will change from 0 to 360 degrees. A change in the phase shift by 1 degree, in this case, corresponds to the object displacement by approximately 4 cm.
If this distance is exceeded, an ambiguity arises, to be precise, it is impossible to determine how many wave periods fit in the measured distance. The modulation frequency of the laser system is switched to solve the problem.
The simplest case is the use of two frequencies; the distance to the object is determined at low frequency (but the maximum distance is still limited), the distance with the required accuracy is determined at high one – with the same accuracy of phase shift measurement, herewith, the accuracy of distance measurement will be much higher using high frequency.
Since there are relatively simple ways to measure the phase shift with high accuracy, the accuracy of distance measurement in such laser system rangefinders can reach up to 0.5 mm. It is the phase laser technique that is used in range measuring systems that require high measurement accuracy – geodetic range finders, laser system roulettes, scanning range finders mounted on robots.
However, the presented laser technology also has drawbacks that include the power of laser beam light produced by a constantly working laser system is noticeably lower than that of a pulsed laser, which does not allow the use of phase range finders for measuring large distances. Besides, the phase measurement with the required accuracy can take a certain time, which limits the performance of the laser device.
The most important process in such a laser system rangefinder is the measurement of the signal phase difference, which determines the accuracy of distance measurement. There are various laser techniques for measuring the phase difference, both analog and digital. Analog methods are much easier, digital ones give greater accuracy. In this case, it is more difficult to measure the phase difference of high-frequency signals by digital methods – the time delay between the signals is measured in nanoseconds (this delay occurs as in the pulse laser system range finder).
The heterodyne signal conversion is used to simplify the task – the laser beam signals from the photodetector and laser system are separately mixed with a signal of close frequency, which is formed by an additional generator – a heterodyne. The frequencies of the modulating signal and the heterodyne differ by kilohertz or units of megahertz. The signals of the difference frequency are distinguished from the received laser beam signals using the low-pass filter. The phase difference between the signals in this transformation does not change. The phase difference of the received low-frequency signals is much easier to measure after that by digital laser technique – it is possible easily digitize the signals with a low-speed ADC, or measure the delay between the laser beam signals (it decreases noticeably with decreasing frequency) using the laser device. Both methods are quite simple to implement on the microcontroller.
There is another way to measure the phase difference — digital synchronous detection. If the frequency of the modulating signal is not very high (less than 15 MHz), then such a signal can be digitized by a high-speed ADC synchronized with the laser module signal. However, since a narrowband signal is digitized (except for the modulation frequency, there are no other signals at the ADC input), it is possible to use the method of downsampling, due to which the sampling frequency of the ADC can be noticeably reduced to megahertz. The analog part of the laser system rangefinder is simplified.
It should be noted that both of the above laser techniques are often applied together – low-frequency signals are put directly to the ADC, high-frequency signals are transferred to the lower frequency part due to heterodyne conversion, and also put to the ADC.
The main application of this technology is laser system scanning. 3D laser system scanning is a relatively new direction in high-precision measurements. A background for its emergence and development was the appearance of reflectorless laser system rangefinders (tacheometers) that allow measurements to be made without the use of special reflectors, as well as GNSS technologies (Global Navigation Satellite System), which make it possible to quickly and accurately determine coordinates on the ground using satellite information.
The principle of laser system device operation, regardless of their type and purpose, is based on measuring the distance from the source of the laser beam pulse to the object. The laser beam emerging from the emitter is reflected from the surface of the examined object. The reflected signal enters the scanner receiver, where the required distance is determined by the time delay (pulse method) or phase shift (phase method) between the emitted and reflected signal. Knowing the coordinates of the laser system scanner and the direction of the laser beam pulse, you can determine the three-dimensional coordinates of the point from which the pulse was reflected.
Modern laser system scanners provide the ability to generate measuring pulses with a frequency of up to several hundred thousand per second and, using a system of moving mirrors or the scanner body itself, the distribution of these pulses over the entire surface of the object. As a result of such measurements or “scanning”, it is possible to get a cloud of three-dimensional points that describe the object under study with great accuracy and completeness in a short time.
Laser system scanners can be divided into 3 main types by their purpose:
– ground
– aerial
– mobile
Laser system scanners are also referred to as LIDARs (LIDAR – Light Detection And Ranging).
Ground scanning
A ground-based laser system scanner is installed at a point with pre-measured coordinates and scans surrounding objects. If it is necessary to obtain a more complete picture, scanning from several points/angles is performed, after which the clouds of reflections are “collected” into a single array.
The main applications of ground-based laser module scanning are indoor and outdoor surveying and modeling of architectural structures, industrial facilities (construction sites, workshops, electrical substations, mine workings, etc.). Also, such scanners are successfully used in such areas as the film industry and the creation of computer games.
The distance of ground-based scanners usually ranges from one to hundreds of meters. The resolution characterizing the density of reflections, as well as the accuracy of the reflection fixation are few millimeters.
Air scanning
Air laser system scanners can be installed on an airplane or a helicopter and are designed to capture large areas of terrain from the air during the flight. Since the position and orientation of the scanner are constantly changing, such laser systems are equipped with a GPS receiver and an inertial IMU system (Inertial Measurement Unit), which measures the position and orientation of the carrier/scanner in space in real-time. Base GPS stations are used to improve the accuracy of coordinate measurements, which provide information for calculating differential corrections that take into account the extent errors of satellite signals. Generally, digital photo equipment is installed on the carrier together with the scanning system, which allows carrying out aerial photography simultaneously with laser system scanning.
The range of air scanners varies from several hundred to several thousand meters. The accuracy of recording reflections in height – 10-15 cm, in the plan – 1/2000 flight altitude, due to significant divergence of the laser beam. Thus, the planned accuracy will be no worse than 25 cm during terrain shooting from a height of 500m.
The density of reflections is usually from one to hundreds of points per 1 square meter and depends on the frequency of the generated laser beam pulses and the flight altitude. The ability to capture several responses from each pulse allows receiving laser beam reflections from the surface of the earth hidden by vegetation – i.e. to restore the terrain where it is impossible to do using traditional aerial photography.
Air scanning is used to capture both areal and extended infrastructure objects, such as roads, pipelines, power lines, etc. The results of aerial laser system shooting are used in the design, inventory of objects, cartography, and many other laser applications.
Mobile scanning
Ideologically, the mobile laser system scanning is similar to air photography, only a ground platform is used here as a carrier – for example, a car, a railway train or a boat. Usually, a mobile scanning system consists of 2 or more laser device scanners, several digital photo/video cameras, as well as GPS and IMU modules. The process of scanning is performed during the movement of the carrier along a road, railroad track or water surface.
Unlike an air scanner, the composition of objects that are in this zone of visibility is smaller, but the density of reflections, and hence the detail of point clouds, is significantly higher. For geography, the main difference from the air laser technique is that the GPS receiver of the mobile system, being close to the surface of the earth, often falls into the area of obscuring satellite signals from buildings, vegetation, and terrain features. Therefore, the problem of improving the accuracy of mobile scanning data is very relevant today.
The main application of mobile scanning is surveying roads and railways, bridges, overpasses, city streets, and coastlines.
Advantages and disadvantages
The main advantages of laser technology in scanning, of course, include the high speed of shooting, unattainable by any other measurement ways. Today air laser scanning is almost the world standard in the field of power line surveys.
In this case, we should not forget about legal issues. For example, an appropriate permit related to both privacy issues and airspace use issues is required to obtain. This can take a very significant amount of time, which negatively affects responsiveness.
The main result of laser system scanning – whether it is ground, air or mobile – is a cloud of three-dimensional points that describe the geometric parameters of the subject with varying accuracy. The number of laser beam reflections obtained during shooting the examined object is often hundreds of millions and even billions. Nowadays the processing of such data arrays and the end product formation on their basis for users in various industries is the most time-consuming part of laser technology.
The use of laser scanning technology allows us to offer a variety of products that can be used to create geographic information systems, design, survey and analyze the status of various objects, monitor engineering work, conduct a regression analysis, etc.:
– topographic plans of different scales;
– orthophotomaps;
– digital terrain models;
– three-dimensional vector models of terrain and objects, including complex industrial structures;
– the results of various calculations related to the geometric characteristics of objects.
Laser system rangefinders are used both in the military industry:
- navigation target devices for armored vehicles, aviation;
- hand-held rangefinders for observers;
- fire control modules for hand weapons;
- air tracking systems.
And in civilian life:
- Space geodesy
- Aerial geodesy
- Measurement of the sea depth
- Сonstruction activity
- 3D laser system scanning
- Machine scanning systems for robots
For example, recently the staff of the Forestry Tasmania introduced LIDAR data from a GIS to model and map forests that grow on Tasmania Island in southern Australia. During data processing by laser technology, including analysis of the general condition of the trees, the density of the canopy, the volume of forest stands, they found the world’s highest deciduous tree.
Optromix is a manufacturer of laser systems, optical fiber sensors, and optical monitoring systems. We develop and manufacture a broad variety of fiber lasers, СО2 lasers, and other types. We offer simple laser products, as well as sophisticated laser systems with unique characteristics, based on the client’s inquiry.
We manufacture lasers using our technologies based on the advanced research work and patents of the international R&D team. Laser processes are of high quality, high precision, easily-automated manufacturing solutions that provide repeatability and flexibility. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com
Pulsed fiber laser maintains temperature sensitive materials
Totally new laser technology for ceramic welding process was presented by engineers from the USA. The laser technology is based on the use of pulsed fiber laser that emits a series of short, ultrafast laser beam pulses to melt ceramic materials along with the interaction between two ceramic parts and fuse them. Additionally, the melting is local because the process of heating focuses only at the interface resulting in the technique of “ultrafast pulsed fiber laser welding”.
It should be noted that to make this laser system technology work, the optimization of the transparency of the ceramic material as well as fiber laser parameters such as exposure time, number of laser beam pulses, and duration of pulses is required. Thus, the combination of these aspects allows achieving optimal results, the laser system energy couples strictly to the ceramic making the use of low laser beam power (less than 50 watts) possible at room temperature.
To be more precise, “the “sweet spot” for the ultrafast laser beam pulses was two picoseconds, at the high repetition rate of one megahertz, along with a moderate total number of pulses”. Therefore, the developed pulsed fiber laser technology enables to increase the melt diameter, reduce material ablation, and synchronize cooling just right for the best weld process possible.
Moreover, the engineers have succeeded to escape temperature gradients from being set up throughout the ceramic due to the accurate focusing the energy from the laser beam. Finally, the current fiber laser technology allows encasing temperature-sensitive materials without damaging them.
The technology of pulsed fiber laser was already tested and demonstrated: the engineers welded a transparent cylindrical cap to the inside of a ceramic tube. Herewith, the welds made by the pulsed laser system are strong enough to hold a vacuum environment. The thing is that there is a similarity between the vacuum tests of welds made by the pulsed fiber laser and the tests used in industry to control seals on electronic and optoelectronic devices.
Also, the engineers confirm that it was impossible to encase or seal electronic components inside ceramics before the developed laser technology because it was necessary to install the entire assembly in a furnace, which would damage the electronics. In spite of the fact that the main application of the ultrafast pulsed fiber laser in welding industry was the welding process of tiny ceramic features (less than 2 cm in size), nowadays it is planned to optimize the fiber laser technique for larger scales, as well as for various types of materials and geometries.
Finally, due to laser system technology, the welding process could make ceramics an integral part in devices for harsh environmental conditions as well as in optoelectronic or electronic packages that require visible-radio frequency transparency.
Optromix is a fast-growing fiber laser manufacturer and a vendor of optical fiber sensors and optical monitoring systems. The company offers fast turnkey solutions and creates sophisticated fiber laser systems for special purposes. Optromix uses only its technologies and develops a broad variety of fiber lasers. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com
Laser technology in dermatology
Laser technology has greatly advanced dermatology area resulting in strong help for practitioners that offer the best medical treatment for unique conditions, providing greater efficiency and safety. Laser system technology has promoted dermatology over the last few years, herewith, the development of laser systems and pulsed laser beam lights allows making the effective and safe treatment of different conditions like vascular and pigmented lesions, tattoos, scars, and so on.
Even though artificial laser beam light sources are used for various skin diseases treatment for a long time, the development of laser systems makes their application real in therapeutics. The laser systems in dermatology allow carrying out reliable therapeutic applications in cosmetic rejuvenation and other conditions. Thus, the demand for popular laser technologies results in the development of improved laser systems with better features.
Surgical laser systems ( especially CO2 lasers) are considered to be the most efficient in dermatology area because of such features as precise wavelength, variable nature, and duration of output making this type of lasers suitable for the medical treatment of a wide range of skin and mucosal diseases. For example, dye lasers offer numerous benefits for the treatment of such conditions as facial telangiectasias, spider veins, pyogenic granulomas, rosacea, and cutaneous vascular ectasia.
The development of laser technologies makes surgery to carry out the controlled termination of the cutaneous target with minimal injury to the surrounding tissue. The principle of laser system operation is based on the maintenance of an appropriate wavelength during the laser treatment for preferential absorption by the required tissue. Moreover, the pulse duration of the laser beam should last shorter than the relaxation time of the target molecules.
The choice of laser systems and pulsed laser beam light systems for the dermatological treatment is based on the following parameters:
- Continuous-wave or CW fiber lasers are suitable for nonselective tissue damage due to the production of continuous laser beams;
- Compared to the previous one, Quasi-CW mode laser systems create interrupted emissions of light energy by shuttering the laser beam into shorter intervals;
- Intense pulse light lasers enable to treat vascular lesions thanks to their ability to target intravascular oxyhemoglobin.
- Such laser systems as pulsed dye laser, potassium titanyl phosphate, alexandrite, neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet, and diode lasers can be used for the reliable treatment of small and large blood vessels.
Finally, laser technology makes a great contribution to dermatology. Optromix is a manufacturer of laser systems, optical fiber sensors, and optical monitoring systems. We develop and manufacture a broad variety of fiber lasers, СО2 lasers, and other types. We offer simple laser products, as well as sophisticated laser systems with unique characteristics, based on the client’s inquiry.
We manufacture lasers using our technologies based on the advanced research work and patents of the international R&D team. Laser processes are of high quality, high precision, easily-automated manufacturing solutions that provide repeatability and flexibility. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com
Laser systems for autonomous driving
Nowadays high-powered laser system technology that provides the driving of light detection and ranging systems (LIDAR) becomes virtually a common tool used for the development of autonomous vehicles. To be more precise, the technique of LIDAR, based on the use of infrared laser systems, allows directing autonomous vehicles by producing a real-time, 3D image of the world.
The laser technology includes the combination of pulsed fiber laser and single-pixel sensors or high-powered laser system flash illumination applying the time of flight cameras to create the required 3D images. Thus, the obtained laser system can carry out the travel time measurement of the light produced a laser beam from the autonomous vehicle to the target and back to the vehicle.
Additionally, this laser system technology offers a highly attractive benefit for LIDAR manufacturers, that is increased laser system power resulting in the opportunity for 3D maps to capture more objects and scenery from longer distances. Nevertheless, the most important thing is eye safety, that is why short pulses produced by the laser beam play a crucial role.
The thing is that more rapid pulsing is (for example, more than 1 million times per second), more data points and better signal quality are presented since the fast rise and fall times are essential. The recent development has the target to transmit LIDAR power emitted by the laser beam of 120W per channel “in a four-channel SMT package delivering >480W peak power with approximately 2 ns full-width half maximum (FWHM) pulses and <1 ns rise and fall times”.
LIDAR technology employs two primary wavelengths of laser systems: 905 and 1550 nm that offer their advantages. For example, a CMOS or other silicon detector can identify 905 nm laser beam, therefore, the cost becomes lower and the complexity reduces. Laser systems of 1550 nm wavelengths can be detected by silicon photomultipliers, and eventually indium gallium arsenide detectors, however, they have some problems at the 105°C temperature required for automotive qualification. as well as challenges with eye safety.
Finally, multichannel laser systems are quite necessary because the application of eight laser modules in individual firing will provide 1% resolution or 15 cm steps, whereas the minimum amplitude and dynamic range is virtually 18 dB when applying a 1 ns time of flight. In fact, based on the mentioned advantages, it is better to use 05 nm multichannel high-power lidar laser systems with nanosecond pulses.
There is an opinion that the presented laser technology should have a hybridized mode including short transmitted pulses with a slightly longer duration receiver “window” resulting in the more reliable laser system. The main obstacle of LIDAR technology was overcome due to the opportunity to transmit shorter pulses that allowed for optimal eye safety, thermal management, and consequently, high resolution.
Optromix is a fast-growing fiber laser manufacturer and a vendor of optical fiber sensors and optical monitoring systems. The company offers fast turnkey solutions and creates sophisticated fiber laser systems for special purposes. Optromix uses only its own technologies and develops a broad variety of fiber lasers. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com
Hybrid fiber laser system advances precision manufacturing
The process of fine details micromachining plays a very important role in high-volume manufacturing in various fields of laser application such as consumer electronics, medical devices, and automotive industry. Thus, highly accurate laser systems allow producing tiny holes, fine cuts, and narrow scribes. For example, the production of a usual smartphone that has thousands of details requires making millions of drilled holes and accurately cut parts by fiber lasers.
It is not surprising that accuracy and quality, high throughput and quite a low cost per machined unit are required for micromachining these fine details. Despite the fact that mechanical methods, for example, drilling, milling, sawing and sandblasting can be suitable in quality and offer minimal heat damage, but there are some limits on the size and consistency of details.
Compared to mechanicals and other methods, laser technology provides higher accuracy, smaller details and improved consistency with no laser system wear. Nevertheless, the achievement of the mentioned characteristics required great advances in laser technology that were achieved just in recent years.
One of the purposes for micromachining by the laser system is considered to be a removal only the required material, generally through the method of localized heating, at the same time, the fiber laser minimize heating off and damage. To achieve the required result, it is necessary to deliver high-quality irradiation from a near-perfect laser beam accurately to the target region.
Herewith, shorter wavelengths and shorter pulse widths are important in achieving the results. Moreover, the second purpose for micromachining process made by the laser system is the opportunity to reach high machining throughput. It should be noted that the increase of average output power in the fiber laser results in higher ablation rates, however, with certain limitations.
A possible solution to the current problem is tailoring of the pulse sequence produced a laser beam, with pulse bursts and pulse shapes. To be more precise, the energy-time profile from the laser beam is able to be tailored and optimized for a certain material and its interaction with the fiber laser system light so that the incident energy can be employed almost entirely to material removal and not excess heating.
Finally, the laser system cost is considered to be a key factor for the micromachining industry. Moreover, the cost increase from the fiber laser process for each manufactured detail is the most crucial figure that containing such parameters as amortization of the upfront laser system cost, cost of operation, lost productivity from downtime, and process yield.
Optromix is a fast-growing fiber laser manufacturer and a vendor of optical fiber sensors and optical monitoring systems. The company offers fast turnkey solutions and creates sophisticated fiber laser systems for special purposes. Optromix uses only its own technologies and develops a broad variety of fiber lasers. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com
Laser system cutting: full information
Laser system cutting is considered to be an industrial laser technology that is used in numerous fields. First laser beams were introduced in 1960 when the physicist Theodore Maiman employed a synthetic ruby crystal to create the first prototype that allowed making a straight laser beam. Nevertheless, the technology of laser cutting was presented only in 1963 by the electrical engineer Kumar Patel who used CO2 laser due to which laser system cutting became cheaper and more efficient.
It should be noted that the development of laser technology enables the mining industry to give laser systems a practical application, herewith, some laser modules are able to cut a 1-mm-thick steel sheet. Nowadays CO2 laser systems are a common laser cutting device for cutting and engraving materials such as cardboard, plywood, MDF or acrylic, etc.
The fact is that the process of laser system cutting and engraving are both subtractive manufacturing techniques. To be more precise, a solid object is used in the process, then the material is removed by the laser beam in order to produce a required image. However, these two laser technologies are not identical and have a distinction.
A laser beam during laser system cutting hits the surface of a material and heats it up until it melts or vaporizes completely to leave a clean cut. Herewith, the process of engraving by a CO2 laser is similar to the cutting, however, the intensity of the laser beam is lower and it only leaves a mark on the material’s surface rather than cut it.
In spite of the fact that there are other technologies that allow achieving similar results, laser system cutting offers the following benefits over other cutting techniques that include:
- the high level of accuracy resulting in engraving more detailed images and cleaner cuts;
- high production speed;
- wide variety of materials that can be cut by the laser system without any damage;
- high accessibility compared to other techniques;
- the opportunity of laser application with any vector software;
- no wastes such as sawdust;
- laser technology for cutting purposes is very safe and reliable with the right equipment.
Finally, laser system cutting is not yet ideal and needs some improvements to overcome other similar techniques. Optromix Inc., headquartered in Cambridge, MA, USA, is a manufacturer of laser technologies, optical fiber sensors, and optical monitoring systems. We develop and manufacture a broad variety of fiber lasers, СО2 lasers, and other types. We offer simple laser products, as well as sophisticated laser systems with unique characteristics, based on the client’s inquiry.
We manufacture lasers using our own technologies based on the advanced research work and patents of the international R&D team. Laser processes are of high quality, high precision, easily-automated manufacturing solutions that provide repeatability and flexibility. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com
Improved tunable fiber lasers for communications and scientific purposes
New improved tunable fiber lasers consist of the waveguides and filter components, a spot-size converter, and the on-chip tunable laser gain module that is installed at the semiconductor optical amplifier. The development of such a laser system is considered to reduce the cost of the tunable fiber lasers by decreasing the number of laser system’s components and making their assembly less complex.
Additionally, the developed tunable laser system may become a possible solution for next-generation low-cost coherent transceivers. Herewith, these fiber lasers are compact and can expand opportunities in emerging fields of laser application such as lidar for autonomous vehicles and on-chip optical coherence tomography for biomedical sensing process, in addition to optical fiber area.
Although, tunable fiber lasers offer such benefits as cost- and space-efficiency for various applications, they face several challenges. Firstly, the laser systems‘ light emission produced by a laser beam remains still not straightforward because of silicon’s indirect bandgap.
Secondly, it is possible to produce more ‘pure’ laser beam light by increasing the silicon cavity length but the propagation loss of a silicon waveguide is much higher than that of free-space optics and other material waveguides. Thus, the making of long silica cavity in the tunable laser systems is considered to be impractical.
Thirdly, it should be noted that the cavities of the fiber laser system are very sensitive to any thermal disturbance because silicon material has a relatively large thermo-optic coefficient. Therefore, it becomes very difficult to design a tunable fiber laser that offers a high-frequency precision of <1 GHz.
Finally, several improvements in the laser system’s components have been made to overcome the current limitations. Nowadays, the tunable fiber laser includes a laser gain chip directly butt-coupled to a ring-resonator-based filter chip, as well as two cascaded ring filters to provide lasing mode selection over a large spectral range through the Vernier effect.
Moreover, more powerful semiconductor optical amplifier has been designed to increase the output power in the fiber laser system. Currently, all the construction is packaged in a compact golf box to meet the requirements for laser applications in optical fiber communications.
The manufacturers also confirm that now it is possible to install this laser module into compact coherent transceivers. The new design of the tunable lasers allows not only solving the problems but creating additional benefits such as the compensation of the large coupling and propagation loss of the integrated silicon waveguides by the amplifier, the production of relatively “pure” laser beam light, the reduction of optical power on the silicon chip and the opportunity to control the laser system output power through the amplification of the semiconductor optical amplifier.
Optromix is a fast-growing fiber laser manufacturer and a vendor of optical fiber sensors and optical monitoring systems. The company offers fast turnkey solutions and creates sophisticated fiber laser systems for special purposes. Optromix uses only its own technologies and develops a broad variety of fiber lasers. If you have any questions or would like to buy a tunable laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com
Highly efficient fiber lasers that are safe for the eyes
Recently new highly efficient fiber lasers that are safe for the eyes have been developed by researchers from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. Based on the use of nanotechnology, the researchers include rare-earth ions of holmium in the core of the laser system’s silica fiber. Thus, this laser technology allows achieving an 85% level of efficiency with a fiber laser operating at a wavelength of 2 µm that is regarded as safer for the human eyes than a conventional 1 µm wavelength laser system.
It should be noted that the particle size of the nanopowder dopant is generally less than 20 nm. This is the reason why it was necessary to produce an appropriate crystal environment for the rare-earth ions in a fiber laser. The solution to the problem is the application of “clever” chemistry that dissolved holmium in a nanopowder of lutetia or lanthanum oxide or lanthanum fluoride.
Herewith, the researchers also face the challenge of successfully dope these nanopowders into the silica fiber in quantities that would be appropriate to reach laser system generation. The use of a room-size, glass-working lathe enables to clean the glass that is the future optical fiber with fluorine gases, then the American researchers molded the glass with a blow torch, and infused it with the nanoparticle slurry.
Therefore, a rare-earth-ion-doped, 1-in. diameter glass rod or simply optical preform has to be then softened with a furnace and elongated to create an optical fiber about as thin as a human hair for its future application in the fiber laser system. Additionally, the advantages of the novel fiber laser include not only improved eye safety but the nanoparticle doping in the laser system also defends the rare earth ions from the silica as well as separates them (the ions) from each other, thus, saving the light output produced by a laser beam.
The thing is that the scattered light from the path of a 100-kW fiber laser operating at 1 µm is able to provoke severe damage to the retina, leading to blindness while the laser system with wavelengths beyond 1.4 µm (like this fiber laser system) reduces the danger from scattered light.
Finally, the potential applications of the new specialty fiber lasers include:
- high-powered laser systems;
- amplifiers for defense, telecommunications, and even welding;
- laser-cutting.
Moreover, the presented laser technology is considered to be highly prospective and commercially effective because the process of powder production and its installation into the optical fiber has low cost and reminds the development of a telecom fiber.
Optromix is a fast-growing fiber laser manufacturer and a vendor of optical fiber sensors and optical monitoring systems. The company offers fast turnkey solutions and creates sophisticated fiber laser systems for special purposes. Optromix uses only its own technologies and develops a broad variety of fiber lasers. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com
Powerful mid-infrared laser system opens new opportunities for spectroscopic analytical technique
Researchers from Austria have developed a highly bright mid-infrared laser system that can be used for a spectroscopic analytical technique called ellipsometry. Such laser technology allows getting high-resolution spectral data information at a very short time (less than a second), therefore, the developed laser system opens new possibilities into quick changing properties of different samples from plastic to biological materials.
It should be noted that the method of spectroscopic ellipsometry enables to measure the changes of light polarization after its interaction with a sample. The use of a mid-infrared quantum cascade laser system, a new type of lasers that is at 10,000 times brighter than the conventional laser beam sources in spectroscopic ellipsometry could offer new data about a sample’s chemical composition and molecular orientation.
The tests demonstrate that the quantum cascade laser system helps to improve the signal quality of the spectroscopic measurements, herewith, this laser technology reduces the spectral acquisition time from several hours to less than a second, and further improvements are possible. Another potential laser application of QCL technique is the use for real-time monitoring of molecular reorientation as a plastic film is stretched.
Thus, the laser system technique offers the opportunity to obtain information about sample properties that were not possible to observe in real-time before. Also, the quantum cascade laser system may improve manufacturing processes and the quality of the resulting product, consequently, leading to novel scientific researches due to revealing previously unobservable physical and biological processes by laser technology.
The mid-infrared laser system’s advantage of a brightness, whose level is higher than that of synchrotron laser beam sources that are used only in specialized facilities, makes it possible to apply spectroscopic ellipsometry of highly absorbing materials or substances as well those dissolved in water.
One more benefit of the laser system device is considered to be the use of the mid-infrared laser system for spectroscopic measurements without expensive and complex optical components such as monochromators or interferometers. Herewith, the application of the laser itself includes ellipsometric measurements with high spatial resolutions, which will be in demand for both science and industry fields.
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