The committee and officers of AILU are very pleased to welcome you to the first edition of this e-newsletter, our latest industry communication venture. We plan for it to be an important, regular and complementary service. It is dedicated to providing short news items and topical information quickly to laser users and those in associated fields.

We hope AILU members and non-members alike will find the newsletter both interesting and useful. We would welcome suggestions as what to include or exclude so please do not hesitate to get in touch with Anna at the AILU office.

Stewart Williams

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13 August 2008
BLM tube laser contributes to Hydram Sheet Metalwork’s world class strategy
In the past two years Hydram Sheet Metalwork has invested more than £2 million in capital equipment and plans to expand its factory by a further 30,000 sq. ft. next year.

8 August 2008
Syncrono laser cutting machine helps young & wood keep up to speed with customer demand
For more than 60 years engineering subcontractor Young & Wood of Harlow, Essex, has manufactured a diverse range of components for architectural fittings, commercial buses and the banking industry. The company has recently installed a Syncrono laser cutting machine from Prima Industrie in order to keep production costs down and remain competitive.

8 August 2008
Investment tops £2M mark
SSC Laser (formerly Steel Service Centre), the all round laser cutting sub-contractor, has placed an order with Bystronic UK Limited for equipment valued at in excess of £350,000 for a Bystronic Byspeed laser cutting system equipped with 4.4 kW resonator. It is the sixth Bystronic laser (and the third Byspeed) to be purchased by the company since 2000 and represents an overall investment of over £2M.

25 July 2008
High Q - femtoTRAIN IMAGING
High Q Laser in Hohenems / Bregenz, Austria, has released a new femtosecond light source for multi-photon microscopy – the new model “femtoTRAIN IMAGING”, a compact, all-in-one, alldiode-pumped, Ti:Sapphire oscillator

25 July 2008
Trio Motion’s MC206X starter kit moves Daleks to a stage managed clash with Dr Who®
Motion and machine controller supplied as starter kit delights first time user.

24 July 2008
Tampoprint® AG presents the new Alfalas® “WST“ Laser
Tampoprint® AG presents a novelty in laser technology with its new Alfalas® “WST“ Workstation Laser Marking Unit – as a bench model this is the ideal table-top solution.

15 July 2008
£8m grant for next-gen lasers
The University of Dundee and 18 European partners have been granted around £8m to develop a new generation of biomedical lasers.

For more news items see our news section on the AILU website.

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Two-photon polymerisation: technique and system

Sven Passinger, Aleksandr Ovsianikov, Andreas Ostendorf, and Boris N. Chichkov

Rapid progress in the performance of ultra-short pulse laser systems has created exciting possibilities for two-photon polymerisation (2PP), a promising 3D microfabrication method that requires high and precise localization of femtosecond laser pulses in both time and space.

The figure shows an example of what can be achieved by 2PP, the process offers high resolution and the capability of real 3-dimensional structuring, providing unprecedented freedom in the fabrication of complex micro- and nanostructures.

IMAGE: The design and SEM images of the fabricated micro-mechanical components (cog scale: 30 microns across)

Benefits of the two-photon process: In operation 2PP is somewhat similar to that of the traditional stereo-lithography technique, but provides much better structural resolution and quality.

Click here to find out more

A new method of laser beam induced surface modification

Paul Hilton and Ian Jones

Surfi-Sculpt^® is a power beam process, invented at and patented by TWI, which enables controlled surface features to be developed on a range of substrates, including but not limited to metals, polymers and ceramics. Such surface features were first demonstrated using electron beams, employing electromagnetic coils to first focus the beam and then deflect this focused beam over the material surface in a rapid and controlled manner. This article describes recent work, which has involved the use of focused laser beams to develop similar features.

IMAGE: Photograph of Surfi-Sculpt^® star shapes in titanium alloy made in argon.

The process
Fibre delivered laser beams and galvanometer driven scanning mirrors were used in this work to produce the rapidly moving spot of laser energy required for the process. After generation of a molten pool in the substrate material, the beam is then rapidly moved relative to the workpiece. As a result of vapour pressure and surface tension effects, the laser beam movement results in material being moved from within the pool to regions at the extreme end of the beam movement. By repeating this process, it is possible to build up protrusions of several millimeters in height above the surface of the material. By combining and sequencing these protrusions together, a variety of shapes or features can be formed.

Click here to find out more

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Welcome to AILU Events, AILU Supported Events and Member events.

27 August 2008
Medical Group Meeting: Lasers in medicine and biophotonics
Photonics is an enabling technology for many products in different sectors. Increasingly important in all areas this seminar is designed to highlight developments in laser technology as applied to medical and biophotonics areas. The burgeoning specialism of photonics in the medical sector is addressed in this one-day meeting as part of Photon 08.

6-8 October 2008
PHOTOMETRY & SPECTRORADIOMETRY
A practical course on measurement techniques and standards. The course is intended to provide practical instruction and advice on techniques for the measurement of sources of optical radiation from the ultraviolet to the near infrared.

15-16 October 2008
Photonex 2008
UK's Premier Photonics Event. The event is held each year at Stoneleigh Exhibition halls near Coventry.

For more news items see our events section on the AILU website.

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For further information contact:

AILU
Oxford House
100 Ock Street
Abingdon
Oxfordshire
OX14 5DH
United Kingdom

info@ailu.org.uk
www.ailu.org.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 1235 539595
Fax: +44 (0) 1235 550499

If you would like to advertise in the monthly newsletter, please contact Tom Pettit by email in the first instance.

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