Press Release
LZH for the 10th Time at Photonics West
Hannover, January 21, 2014
This year will be the tenth time the LZH has been an exhibitor at
the German Pavilion at the fair Photonics West (San Francisco,
USA; 4-6 February 2014). The Laser Development Department
of the LZH will be presenting systems and components from the
fields of space lasers, fiber optics, single frequency lasers and
ultrashort pulse lasers in North Hall at stand 4601.
Since the first German Pavilion at Photonics West in 2004, it
has developed into the largest stand there, presently with 58
exhibitors, and is certainly a crowd puller for visitors from all
over the world. The organizers of the most important fair for
lasers and photonics are expecting around 20,000 visitors and
over 1,200 exhibitors.
Fresh from the labs: The new prototype of the MOMA-APM
laser head for the Exomars Mission 2018
An important step in the preparations for looking for traces of
organic substances on Mars during the Exomars Mission 2018
has been taken. The fundamental design of a flight model of a
diode-pumped, Q-switched laser which emits nanosecond pulses
in the UV range at a wavelength of 266 nm in outer space has
been developed for the new prototype of the MOMA-APM laser
head (Mars Organic Molecule Analyzers Advanced Prototype
Model). This laser head, which was developed by the Space
Technologies Group, will be used as the excitation source in the
laser desorption mass spectrometer of the MOMA system, and it
generates ions from organic molecules which cannot be
vaporized. The ions can then examined in the MOMA mass
spectrometer.
Premier at the fair: A wavelength multiplexer for 633 and
1550 nm
The Fiber Optics Group is presenting the newest fiber
components and integrated fiber amplifiers, among which is a
coupler for monomode fibers, a pump light combiner, and a
fiber cladding mode stripper for the wavelengths between 0.6
and 2.1 µm. For the first time, a wavelength multiplexer
consisting of two different fibers will be shown, which
Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V.
Press Release: LZH for the 10th Time at Photonics West
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Press Release
combines the wavelengths of 633 nm and 1550 nm. Combining
the light fields of different fibers opens new applications, for
example in medical technology.
Also, a highly integrated, ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier will
be shown, which was developed for the detection of
gravitational waves using interferometry, and which has a line
width of only a few kilohertz, an emission wavelength of 1064
nm and an average output of over 200 W. Further application
fields for this prototype are coherent beam combinations, laser
metrology, and investigations on quantum optical phenomena,
and nonlinear optics.
Infrared laser with a wavelength of 1.95 µm for the
microprocessing of plastics
A result of the EU project IMPROV (Innovative Mid-infrared
high Power source for Resonant ablation of Organic
photoVoltaic devices; Grant Agreement No. 257893) will be
presented by the Ultrafast Photonics Group, the third prototype
of the IMPROV laser with a wavelength of 1.95 µm. By using
very narrow band gratings, the laser produces laser pulse lengths
between 250 and 550 ps, and has a high quality spectrum. The
system is an excellent laser source for downstream fiber
amplifiers, and the pulses can be amplified without pre-timestretching in the fiber. First experiments show that energy in the
µJ range could be reached with a single fiber amplifier. Based
on polarization-maintaining fibers, the laser output is stable,
even when there are external influences, such as temperature
fluctuations. Due to the pulse parameters, this laser system is
excellent for nonlinear frequency conversion in the mid-infrared
spectral range. Laser pulses in this spectral range can be used to
selectively process organic layers, for example for organic
photovoltaic solar cells.
Fiber lasers for a free fall
The Single-Frequency Lasers Group is presenting a 2 µm
thulium fiber laser system, which was especially developed for
use under micro-gravitational conditions in a fall tower, and
which must withstand continuous dropping and impact from a
height of 100 m. As commissioned by the Center of Applied
Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) in Bremen, the
LZH has developed this system for the PRIMUS-II project for
the investigation of the equivalence principle. The equivalence
Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V.
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Press Release
principle dates back to Galileo Galilei and states that all physical
bodies, independent of their chemical composition, size, form
and mass, fall in the same manner in a vacuum, if other forces
are not present.
LZH-Spinoff neoLase GmbH
A further exhibitor at the German Pavilion is the neoLase
GmbH, a spinoff from the LZH, which will be presenting their
MOPA laser system, a highly brilliant pico- and nano-second
laser and amplifier modules.
Contact:
Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V.
Lena Bennefeld
Hollerithallee 8
D-30419 Hannover, Germany
Tel.: +49 511 2788-238
Fax: +49 511 2788-100
E-Mail: l.bennefeld@lzh.de
http://www.lzh.de
The Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) carries out research and development in the field of laser technology and is
supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Transport of the State of Lower Saxony (Niedersächsisches
Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Arbeit und Verkehr).
You can find the LZH press releases with a WORD-download and when possible illustrations at www.lzh.de under
"publications/press releases"
Illustration captions
Illustration 1: The new MOMA prototype model.
Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V.
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