August 11--At this year's InterOpto Conference, held at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba-city, Japan, attendees had the opportunity to learn about a new cooperative agreement between Cyber Laser and IMRA America that provides users of femtosecond micromachining processes freedom of use of patented processes developed by the University of Michigan, in all areas except human health and cosmetics.
Takashi Omitsu, president of IMRA America Inc., described one specific aspect of IMRA's comprehensive program to provide customers with solutions in precision materials processing. By IMRA extending rights to the patent family, including U.S. patent 5,656,186, "Method for controlling configuration of laser induced breakdown and ablation," to Cyber Laser through their purchase of IMRA's ultrafast fiber lasers, Cyber Laser's customers can obtain rights to use their materials processing methods without any concern for infringement of the basic patent governing use of ultrafast lasers for materials processing.
The University of Michigan patent discloses a method for producing mircon-level features in a variety of materials without inducing thermal damage to surrounding material. The method utilizes ultrashort laser pulses.
For more information, visit www.imra.com.