Today, we have many types of powerful and complicated lasers which serve many different purposes. However, we have reached the physical limits of what can be done with existing laser technology.
A new generation of lasers with unmatched physical properties
The scientists behind the XCAN-project aim to revolutionize the way lasers are made. By a coherent combination of a large number of optical fibers, the scientists obtain impressive efficiencies at high repetition rates.
Unfortunately, nonlinear effects limit the output energy. The nonlinear effects can be overcome by combining many optical fibers coherently. This way, the average and the peak power of the resulting beam increase while the nonlinear effects are kept constant.
The major advantages are:
- Very high repetition rates
- Unmatched power rates
- Extremely low power consumption
These advantages pave the way to very powerful uses of the new laser generation.
For the benefit of mankind
With the new generation of lasers, it is possible to address many issues that do not have a solution today, such as:
- UV photolithography allows us to “write” twice the amount of electronic circuits on a microchip, driving the miniaturization of electronics components
- Transmutation of nuclear waste can help us discard nuclear waste and get a cleaner planet
- Proton therapy and isotope production for nuclear pharmacology can give us highly targeted treatment of cancerous tumors
- Remove orbital debris to improve safety for the satellites we use every day for communication, GPS, TV networks, military, and other purposes
- Design solutions for sub-critical nuclear reactors to improve the production of clean energy production
- Design more compact particle accelerators
The Ytterbium fiber used in the project
The optical fiber used in the project is the NKT Photonics Ytterbium-doped, polarizing fiber – the DC-200/40-PZ-Yb. With a mode area of more than 700 µm2, the DC-200/40-PZ-Yb represents the best in flexible single-mode ytterbium fibers and the single polarization core improves the Polarization Extinction Ratio compared to normal PM fibers.
The multimode pump light is guided by our proven air-clad technology, ensuring low loss, high damage threshold, and a large Numerical Aperture (NA). The large NA relaxes tolerances on coupling optics and facilitates the use of lower brightness diodes.
The combination of robust single-mode guidance, excellent PER, and a large mode area, has made this fiber the preferred choice for many industrial fiber laser manufacturers in the high-end segment.
Thank you for lending us the photo: © École Polytechnique – J.Barande