Weekly Lasers Wrap-Up: Week of October 17, 2016

By Steven Glover

The Laser Institute of America Weekly Lasers Wrap-Up is an aggregation of all that you may have missed this week in the world of lasers. From Industry news to Conference updates and LIA happenings, here’s what happened during ICALEO Week 2016: 

San Diego Harbor ICALEO 2016 Site
ICALEO 2016 wrapped up yesterday – explore photos on our Twitter profile @LaserInstitute and on LasersToday.com.

LIA Happenings & Updates

This week brought us the 35th ICALEO® in San Diego, California. The LIA Twitter page is filled with updates, photos, and featured tweets from the event. Follow @laserinstitute on Twitter to see what you may have missed at this year’s event.

Be sure to download our latest trend report The Future of Laser Technology Manufacturing. As an increasing number of industries harness laser technology as part of their protocol, what impact could this have on the future of laser applications? Learn about alternatives to traditional manufacturing applications, as well as emerging developments in laser technology, in new industries here.

icaleo 2016 panoramic

Are your laser safety precautions up to date? The Laser Accident Series reveals what may happen if proper procedures are not met in the workplace. Featuring real-life OSHA accident reports, the Laser Accident Series paints an unsettling picture of the potential of accident or injury, when working with lasers. Read the LIA Blog post here.

Laser Industry News

Lasers Today featured two guest posts of interest to laser enthusiasts this week. The first, The Magic of Non-Linear Laser Processing: Shaping Multi-functional Lab-in-Fiber, discusses “the manipulation of femtosecond laser light inside transparent media” and how it can be directed to “open new directions in creating dense memory space, 3D optical circuits, 3D microfluidic networks, and high speed scribing tracks.” Take an in-depth look at the potential capabilities of this exciting form of laser processing here.

Figure 2. (a) Schematic of a temperature-compensated 3D fiber shape sensor, coupled to single-mode fiber (SMF), and laser-written in coreless fused silica fiber[8]. The λ1 to λ9 wavelengths represent nine different Bragg resonances for waveguide gratings distributed along three laser-written and parallel waveguide tracks. Micrographs of the fiber cross section (125 μm diameter) at the (b) coupling and (c) sensor regions show the arrangement of the internal laser-written waveguides. The figure is reproduced, with permission, from Fig. 1 of Lee et al.[8] © 2013 OSA [http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.21.024076].
Figure 2. (a) Schematic of a temperature-compensated 3D fiber shape sensor, coupled to single-mode fiber (SMF), and laser-written in coreless fused silica fiber
Also featured was Laser Weld Process Monitoring: Seeing the Unseeable. This guest post gives an interesting perspective on the current state of laser weld processes. Discussing the before, during, and after processes of laser welding checks as well as top measuring methods, the importance of record keeping, and more. Find it here.

ICI can be used to monitor multiple aspects of the laser weld process at the same time
ICI can be used to monitor multiple aspects of the laser weld process at the same time

A scientist at University of Central Florida has created the “most efficient” quantum cascade laser ever. According to Space Coast Daily, Professor Arkadiy Lyakh and team have simplified the traditional process in developing quantum cascade lasers, with the intention of seeing them used in a greater number of processes. Read the original article here.

Lasers may soon be responsible for a more accurate atomic clock. Science Daily reports that a group of physicists have designed a laser that is “based on synchronized emissions of light, from the same atoms used in advanced atomic clocks.” Find the official news release here.

Want the latest information on laser industry conferences, like ICALEO®? Interested in the latest in laser news? Sign up to receive Lasers Today updates, straight to your inbox, here. The Laser Institute of America (LIA) is the international society for laser applications and safety. Our mission is to foster lasers, laser applications, and laser safety worldwide. Visit us at www.lia.org.