Table of Contents
Ultrashort Pulse Lasers
Ultrashort pulse lasers (USP lasers) are of great value to science, and this is one area where femtoscience is already making steady and tangible achievements. The idea of an ultrashort pulse is one of the most promising and developed new concepts in femtotechnology today.
Ultrashort pulse lasers provide sufficient output power for industrial applications. These fiber lasers offer pulse lengths in the range from some 10 picoseconds to some 100 femtoseconds. Ultrashort pulse lasers can be used for laser cutting, drilling, and laser marking of surface treatment applications.
Ultrafast vs. Ultrashort Pulse Lasers
The above-mentioned fiber lasers are also known as ultrafast lasers. Ultrashort pulse lasers should not be called “ultrafast” because they are not faster (do not have a higher velocity) than longer pulses. They make it possible to investigate ultrafast processes, and can be used for fast optical data transmissions. Common current scientific laser systems based on ultrashort pulse laser technologies include Ti: Sapphire lasers and dye lasers.
Nobel Prize and Femtochemistry
The first Egyptian scientist to ever win a Nobel Prize in a science-related field is named Ahmed Hassan Zewail. He is also known as the Father of Femtochemistry. Using ultrashort laser flashes, he invented a technique to observe and describe such chemical reactions at the time intervals so short, the various transition states of matter can be peered into.
Applications of Ultrashort Pulses in Different Fields
This level of observation opened up the entire field of femtochemistry because fiber lasers are amazingly effective tools in a vast number of fields. We use fiber lasers everywhere from medical operations (in eye surgery, for instance) to manufacturing plants in high-powered laser cutters.
Cold Ablation and Industrial Breakthroughs
Lasers generate heat, but they work so quickly that the surface barely has time to warm before the job is complete. The target of the laser is vaporized before your reaction time tells you it has even begun. This is called “cold ablation”. One of the biggest challenges was converting this technique from a special advanced laboratory tool into a machine that could be used on the manufacturing floor. This conversion was made by German scientists Jens König, Stefan Nolte, and Dirk Sutter, working for the technology company Bosch. For this, they were awarded the German Future Prize 2013. Cold ablation techniques are currently being used in more manufacturing plants across the world.
Ultrashort pulse fiber lasers are one of the most practical high-power lasers and are now used as laser sources in a variety of laser applications. These fiber lasers are used as practical and functional laser light sources: they are stable, compact, and practical.