I-Corps: Ultrafast All-Optical Shutter Technology

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

There are few known alternatives to the use of high-peak power sub-nanosecond lasers for high quality laser manufacturing and surgery applications. This project plans to explore the use of ultrafast all-optical shutters and their use for non-thermal ablation by further developing an ultrafast all-optical shutter. The shutter allows sampling of high-peak power nanosecond laser pulses to produce high-peak power picosecond or femtosecond pulses that are well suited for non-thermal ablation of materials. This technology can operate across a wide spectral range. It can directly modulate high peak-power lasers and offers the ability to continuously tune the shutter's time window width. The ultrafast all-optical shutter technology offers a novel approach towards producing sub-nanosecond optical pulses. Ultrafast laser pulses are finding an ever increasing range of applications in medicine, manufacturing, and technology as a whole. This technology has the potential to impact laser manufacturing and laser surgery by allowing replacement of expensive high peak-power sub-nanosecond lasers with less expensive nanosecond lasers combined with an ultrafast all-optical shutter; thereby, significantly decreasing the capital equipment and recurring cost for high-quality pulsed laser manufacturing and laser surgery. The increasing use of ultrafast lasers for the non-thermal ablation of materials in the areas of laser manufacturing and laser surgery combined with widespread use of this technology has the potential to make non-thermal laser ablation affordable for a wider range of customers.