Ultrafast lasers are typically defined as any pulsed laser producing pulse widths less than 10 ps (picosecond lasers), down into the femtosecond region (femtosecond lasers) and beyond, which are commonly referred to as ultrashort pulses (ultrashort pulse lasers).
‘Ultrafast Lasers’ is a term that can refer to a number of various types of lasers. However, for our purposes, we are referring to mode-locked fiber lasers. Our ultrafast lasers are produced by mode locking many phase-locked longitudinal modes from a broadband laser or a material with a large gain bandwidth. Because of this, mode locking induces a beat frequency which results in picosecond or femtosecond duration laser pulses. Furthermore, these ultrafast laser pulses are unique for their extremely high peak power and, combined with the ultrashort pulses, are ideal for a number of applications. For example: non-thermal ablation, micromachining, and non-linear spectroscopy including CARS and two-photon microscopy.
Picosecond Lasers – Picosecond Lasers emit laser pulses with a pulse duration in the picosecond range (one-trillionth of a second, or 10 -12 seconds). Given a particular value for pulse energy, the laser pulse’s peak power increases as the pulse duration gets shorter. So, a laser with shorter pulses, such as a picosecond laser, can achieve much higher peak powers when compared to longer pulsed nanosecond or millisecond pulsed lasers.
Femtosecond Lasers – Femtosecond lasers emit optical pulses with a pulse duration below 1 picosecond, in the femtosecond range. A femtosecond (fs) is one quadrillionth (one millionth of one billionth) of a second or 10−15 seconds. Since lasers producing less than 10 ps pulses are considered Ultrafast Lasers or Ultrashort Pulse Lasers, femtosecond lasers fall firmly in this category.
We offer a selection of ultrafast mode-locked lasers with pulse widths as short as 100 femtoseconds (100fs) and up to 10 picoseconds (10ps). They produce a peak pulse energy up to 60 microjoules (60µJ) and pulse repetition rates up to 80 MHz. These lasers are typically available in the near infrared wavelength region. However, frequency doubling allows the generation of visible outputs in the green spectral region. With many options and customization capabilities, we’re sure to have a solution for your unique problem.
RPMC is your Ultrafast Laser Supplier! We have supplied many fiber-based femtosecond laser systems to various researchers, laboratories, and materials science development teams around the country. Often, the researchers we work with don’t have extensive laser experience, and rely on us to help them choose the best laser for their application or project.
The higher peak powers provided by shorter pulsed lasers result in faster removal rates within the same material, as more energy is transferred to the material in less time, and less energy can absorb in the surrounding material, generating less heat. These lasers, with high peak powers (often several megawatts), cause the atomic bonds of the material to break. This break is referred to as a Coulomb explosion, which is a ‘cold processing’ (athermal ablation or non-thermal ablation) method, as opposed to a more conventional thermal ablation method inherent to longer pulsed lasers (e.g., nanosecond pulsed lasers).
In contrast to non-thermal ablation, traditional thermal ablation relies on localized heating of the material, resulting in the melting, and vaporization of the material’s molecules and atoms. This processing technique is detrimental to certain laser applications. Femtosecond lasers have certain technical advantages versus picosecond lases. However, picosecond lasers tend to have much more attractive pricing, while still offering high peak powers and high average powers in a less complicated system.
Ultrafast Lasers are perfect cold ablation of many materials, such as plastics, polymers, PET, composites, glass, diamonds, ceramics, metals, and various coatings. Ultrafast lasers can even perform well with layered substrates. Cold ablation allows for high-precision material removal without heating surrounding area. Thus, ultrafast lasers will not produce heat affected zones (HAZ) or significant material splatter recast. Another benefit provided by ultrafast lasers is the reduction or elimination of any post-processing or cleaning.
In recent years, femtosecond fiber lasers have started replacing bulkier, more complicated, water-cooled ti sapphire lasers. These air-cooled ultrafast fiber lasers, take up less space and allow you to place the controller in a rack mount, for example, while positioning the smaller laser head right where you need it.
At one-tenth the volume, twice the power, and half the cost, our fs Fiber Lasers are perfect replacements for old, outdated Ti:Sapphire lasers. With useful wavelengths like 920, 1040, and 1064nm, you aren’t paying extra for unnecessary wavelength tunability. With a compact, air-cooled, maintenance-free design, and an industry-standard beam height, you’ll see a fast ROI with less downtime and more room to breathe after easily dropping one of these plug-and-play fs Fiber Lasers into your old Ti:Sapphire laser footprint.
ALCOR is the most advanced femtosecond fiber laser emitting at 920 nm or 1064 nm, designed explicitly for multiphoton microscopy instrumentation and industrial OEM integration, working with 24/7 operation in an ultra-compact, robust and air-cooled format. Featuring the Alcor 920 4W, with the highest average power commercially available, as well as the XSight and FLeX Fiber external modules, allowing for fine & fast gating and power control, GDD precompensation, and fiber-coupling (FleX Fiber). 520 nm, 780 nm, and 1040 nm versions also available.
The ALTAIR is an ideal solution for biophotonics applications such as multiphoton microscopy where deep excitation of red-shifted indicators such as RCaMP, dtTomato, and MCherry is required. Providing <160fs pulses, average power up to 20W and peak power up to 1.5MW at 1µm, the ALTAIR is the preferred solution for both OEM and researchers in the microscopy and lifesciences fields. The fiber-based design ensures robust and reliable 24/7 operation while providing supreme pulse quality from a user friendly, ultra compact air-cooled package.
ANTARES is a picosecond, quasi-continuous wave laser with a high repetition rate up to 80 MHz and a narrow linewidth, in a very compact and robust format. This laser series offers average powers of 1 to 40W at 1030 nm or 1064 nm (upon request) and can be doubled or tripled in the harmonics to answer even the most challenging industrial and scientific applications. ANTARES is ideally suited for applications such as CARS and spectroscopy applications.
DIADEM Series is a compact, air-cooled, high energy ultrafast laser for advanced micro-machining applications that require short femtosecond pulse widths. The Diadem is available with up to 40µJ of pulse energy, 30W of average power, and operation up to 1MHz (standard), with pulses below <400 fs and an M² < 1.2. This laser has been specifically designed for demanding medical implantable device and electronics manufacturing as well as high peak power optogenetics applications.
The new, ultrafast NPS Series features up to 10W average output power, <7ps pulse width, and a 40MHz repetition rate. The transform-limited operation, with a spectral width of < 0.3nm, and remarkably accurate central wavelength (1064.3 +/- 0.1nm) make the NPS Series a suitable candidate for highly efficient amplification by Nd-doped DPSS amplifiers. Therefore, opening the way to nonlinear optics applications like OPO pumping, and narrowband Raman Spectroscopy.
SIRIUS is a very compact, high energy hybrid ultrafast laser for advanced micro-machining applications and supercontinuum pumping, offering over 120µJ and > 5 W, with pulses below 10 ps from single shot to 1MHz and an M² of < 1.2. This laser series specifically designed to allow for ergonomic and user-friendly operation. SIRIUS is ideally suited for selective ablation, electronics, and photonic applications.
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