kW-flexiburst · Ultrashort pulsed kW-class laser with unprecedented flexible GHz burst operation for high precision high-throughput industrial manufacturing

The next generation of material processing machines need to deliver higher precision, throughput and flexibility. Current ultrafast laser technology has demonstrated applicability for enabling high precision micromachining, but current throughput is not efficient enough for widescale industrial manufacturing and the parameters of existing lasers are not flexible enough to consistently work in the optimal conditions necessary to minimize heat-affected zone while using all of the available laser power. kW-flexiburst will develop a breakthrough laser technology using a new concept of <1 ps multi GHz seed oscillator operated in burst mode that will be amplified to 1 kW. This new oscillator can flexibly generate any burst shape, intra-burst number of pulses, at a quasi-arbitrary burst repetition rate and quasi-arbitrary intra-burst repetition rate within an unprecedented GHz range. The new range of intra-burst repetition rate, in the multi>GHz regime, will enable ultrahigh ablation rates. The flexibility offered in terms of pulse number (1 with high energy to >2000 with low energy) will also support flexible switching between optimal ablation and optimal ablation rate to achieve unprecedented laser micro-processing throughput. The ability to continuously modify the repetition rates is an ideal tool for industrial production as it enables precise adaptation of the local fluence to match optimal conditions where ablation efficiency is maximal, heat affected zone is minimal and surface finish is best. kW-flexiburst will demonstrate this concept in applications ranging from transparent materials cutting and drilling to metal surface texturing. Closed-loop monitoring and advanced synchronisation will enable parameter optimisation for temporal burst shaping and spatial beam shaping for highest productivity in micro-processing and large surface texturing. Safety issues regarding X-ray generation at kW class powers will also be thoroughly addressed.