Department "Ultrashort Pulse Photonics"

Ultrashort-pulse lasers offer the unique capability of an extreme concentration of energy in time and space. Such sources allow the generation of very high intensities while delivering only moderate energies in a well controlled manner. Therefore the ultrashort-pulse laser technology holds great potential for applications in telecommunication, medical diagnostics, environmental sensing and materials processing.

In a lot of new applications there is a need for short wavelength radiation, either to provide high photon energies or to reach a high spatial resolution. Consequently, considerable effort is made to develop laser sources, also ultrashort lasers, emitting in the UV or even VUV to XUV range.

The primary objective of our department is to develop ultrashort pulse laser systems emitting short wavelength radiation. Our approach is to convert radiation of a visible or infrared short pulse laser into the UV spectral range and amplify it in a specially developed excimer laser module.

Furthermore, application possibilities of the UV short pulse laser technology for surface processing with sub-micron precision are investigated, and beam handling strategies are developed, tailored for specific applications.

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