After Jena researchers won the 2013 Deutsche Zukunftspreis (German Future Award) for their work on a high-precision laser tool, many believed that physical and technological limits would stall any further advances. Others suggested it was no longer possible to make quantum leap advances in the field of ultrashort pulse laser technology. But all this naysay did not stop Jena researchers. They thought outside the box and looked at the problems in a fundamentally new way. That is what Thuringians do.
And it worked. Over the past seven years, these innovative Researchers from the Institute of Applied Sciences at the University of Jena, the Fraunhofer IOF Jena and the Helmholtz Institute of Jena developed a new method which breaks through existing barriers and enables the next generation of ultrashort pulse lasers. These researchers can now divide an input laser beam and then amplify the sub-beams. When the individually amplified sub-beams are bundled back together, the new output beam has higher power. This increased laser power shortens processing speeds and makes manufacturing more cost effective.
For their work in ultrashort pulse laser technology, these Jena researchers were recently nominated as one of ten teams to be considered for the 2018 Thuringian Research Award. While the not have won the award, these researchers continue to lay the foundation for future advances in laser technology.
