A femtosecond laser is a type of ultrafast laser that emits optical pulses with a pulse duration ranging from a few femtoseconds to hundreds of femtoseconds. A femtosecond is equivalent to one quadrillionth of a second. Each femtosecond laser pulse lasts just a few quadrillionths of a second, delivering high precision across a range of applications.
This type of laser is favored for its unmatched precision and versatility. Femtosecond lasers are used in various manufacturing processes, medical procedures, and scientific research, where their extreme precision and unique features help to minimize thermal damage to surrounding substrates or biological tissues, and enable unprecedented measurement accuracy.
Femtosecond lasers emit light in short pulses rather than in a continuous wave. These lasers focus energy on a very short timescale within one laser pulse. This leads to high peak powers, which are far beyond the powers achievable by continuous wave lasers.
The optical resonator of a femtosecond laser traps light, which forms a certain number of standing waves that differ in wavelength, in agreement with the resonance condition. The broader the spectrum of the laser light, the more standing waves or modes exist inside a laser resonator. The number of modes also depends on the spectral range of the gain medium of the femtosecond lasers.
The technique used to generate a laser pulse within the resonator is called mode locking. Typically, all these resonator modes oscillate independently in a random manner.
Mode locking means that resonator modes are forced to oscillate in phase, which, by way of coherent addition, leads to a sharp laser pulse that travels inside the resonator, before it exits in one direction to emit a laser pulse.
In principle, the more modes that are phase locked in their oscillation, the shorter the pulse duration that can be achieved. Femtosecond lasers don’t just differ in their pulse duration, but also in the repetition frequencies of their pulses, which can range from several MHz to GHz.
Technically, there are different types of lasers that are able to produce femtosecond pulses, including solid state lasers, fiber lasers, and more.
Dye lasers: these femtosecond lasers enable ultrafast molecular and atomic process observation, supporting enhanced productivity
Femtosecond lasers can be used in multiple material processing applications, including cutting, ablation, drilling, and micromachining, as well as in a diverse range of scientific applications, such as spectroscopy, metrology, and quantum light generation.
Femtosecond laser processing techniques are used by a broad range of industries to deliver increased efficiency and extreme precision, including:
Femtosecond lasers are extremely versatile and can be used to process a wide range of materials across a variety of industrial applications. Materials that can be processed using femtosecond laser technologies include:
Delivering ultrafast high intensive laser output opens new possibilities for all kinds of laser applications. The many advantages of utilizing femtosecond lasers include:
At Novanta Precision Manufacturing, we’ve developed femtosecond laser technology based on Ti:sapphire as gain medium in a solid-state architecture, and application-based systems that offer unique capabilities for a variety of applications:
With over 35 years’ experience developing industry-leading laser solutions, we engineer systems with high precision and ultrafast speeds via our Applications Testing Labs, where we favor an engineer-to-engineer approach. OEMs benefit from our deep proprietary expertise, honed over almost four decades in the industry.
Explore our full range of ultrafast lasers, or get in touch to learn more about any of our femtosecond laser products.
