Photonics Industries, Bohemia, N.Y., has made available the RG series next generation picosecond lasers. They are diode pumped pico-second lasers producing >7.5 mJ per pulse at 1 kHz at 1064 nm with <25 ps nominal pulse widths still maintaining TEM00 mode quality and <2% rms pulse-to-pulse instability.
In addition, this product aimed at the industrial market is packaged in a compact, industrially reliable package. Higher power versions (30 W and 45 W at 1 MHz) as well as harmonic output wavelengths, such as 532 nm, 355 nm, and 266 nm, are also available.
These lasers have been used to demonstrate hole drilling in “Gorilla” glass (see photo below). The high pulse energy associated with these lasers allows the material to be punched rather than trepanned as previous lasers have done. In addition to glass, the RG lasers can also be used on a variety of other materials, such as metals and ceramics. With unprecedented pulse energies in picosecond timescales, it is expected that a myriad of novel applications will be developed.
In addition, these higher pulse energy pico pulses (e.g., 5 mJ in the green at 1 kHz) enable more precise/longer range LIDAR distance measurements needed for next gen satellite laser ranging (SLR) systems.
