Future of Engineering

Raydiance has demonstrated an ultrashort laser (USL) that generates 56 microjoules per pulse, with pulses lasting only 700 femtoseconds. The platform is the first compact, cost-effective, and fully software-controlled USL, and achieved the highest pulse energy in a fiber laser, at the eye-safe wavelength of 1552 nanometers. The laser, which can ablate (remove) even reflective or transparent material, generated a peak power of approximately 80 megawatts.

Continuous wave lasers generate heat when they are used for ablation, making them undesirable for engineering purposes, and dangerous for medical operations. Ultrashort lasers emit photons in pulses measured in femtoseconds, (one billionth of one millionth of a second), a timespan too short to generate heat in surrounding material.The pulses are precise enough to create a Coulomb explosion in atoms, stripping them of electrons and turning them into a plasma or gas, without damaging surrounding material.

The sensitivity of the laser opens the door for a wide variety of medical applications, including cancer cell removal, tattoo removal, eye surgery, and cosmetic treatments

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Labels: Physics