Cut to the quick

Two high-powered lasers, one of which was originally intended for use as a weapon, may soon make their debut on the factory floor for high-speed precision manufacturing applications thanks to collaborative research being led by the University of Manchester.

The first of the state-of-the-art lasers, hitherto untested in a traditional manufacturing operation, is a 1kW fibre laser originally developed by NASA and the MoD for a direct energy weapon programme. According to team leader Prof Lin Li it offers greatly improved beam quality and power density over existing systems, and will enable researchers to cut deeper and faster.

A second system, a 400Whigh-powered diode pumped solid state (DPSS) laser, is also being evaluated. Li said that this is the world’s highest power pulse laser and can cut with extremely high precision. It was originally developed for the generation of deep UV light sources for advanced lithography systems.

Once installed, the team will work alongside project partners from Cambridge, Cranfield, Heriot Watt and Nottingham universities. ‘Basically it is a combined effort among four or five universities to push UK technology in laser precision manufacturing,’ said Li.