As part of the “EXIST-Forschungstransfer”, an innovative technology for spectral broadening of ultrashort pulse lasers will be brought to market maturity. The interdisciplinary team of Kilian Fritsch and Christian Franke has joined forces to turn this idea into reality.
For more news about the project, check out our press release: “Start-up develops new lasers for life sciences”.
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Das Team
Kilian Fritsch, M.Sc. did the research with femtosecond thin-disk oscillators and
their pulse compression techniques as part of his PhD work at Ludwig-Maximilians University and Helmut-Schmidt-University. His main research focus was on the development of power-scalable and efficient methods for nonlinear spectral broadening and pulse compression.
Based on his many years of experience in the field of spectral broadening and pulse compression, Kilian focuses on the further development of this core technology.
Christian Franke, M.Sc. completed his interdisciplinary degree in industrial engineering with a specialization in mechanical engineering in early 2018. Until the end of 2020, he worked as a research associate at Fraunhofer IAPT. There he was in charge of the “Additive Academy & Studies” unit, which offers training and consulting services on the industrial use of additive manufacturing.
In this project, Christian takes care of the commercial tasks, such as strategic business planning as well as application-driven development of optomechanical components.
The Innovation
Objective:
Spectral broadening and generation of ultrashort laser pulses
State of the art:
Conventional high-power lasers are limited to about 200 fs pulse duration due to the laser gain media used, for example Yb:YAG or Yb:YLF. External pulse compressors can shorten this to less than 10 fs by broadening the frequency spectrum of the light and then shortening the pulse duration by compensating for the residual phase modulation.
Problem:
Existing technologies, however, place high demands on the stability of the laser system as well as the environment and require a lot of expertise in maintaining the system. This limits the applications in industry and the spread of the technology in the research community.
Solution:
The multipass spectral broadening and compression benefits from the self-imaging properties of the multipass cell, making it highly tolerant of external influences. The spectral broadening (and even supercontinuum generation) is thus much more stable, requires no maintenance and thus makes ultrashort laser pulses accessible to a wide range of applications in industry and research.
The Project
The team has been awarded with the “EXIST Forschungstransfer” grant (BMWi) for the development of a market-ready pulse compressor for ultrashort pulse lasers. This program is aimed at outstanding research-based start-up projects that involve complex and technological development work. The funding volume during the two-year project phase is more than 800,000 euros.
Letzte Änderung: 22. April 2022