This work presents time-resolved images of femtosecond-laser-induced melt dynamics in 60 nm gold films on glass substrates. Melt dynamics induced by laser radiation with focus diameters of 6 μm and 8 μm (FWHM) at constant laser fluence is investigated with a temporal resolution of 10 ns. In both cases, the formation of the microbumps and gold jets takes at least 250 ns. It is shown that the formation process can be compared to jetting behavior induced by cavitation bubbles near a free liquid surface. This is confirmed by SEM illustrating a re-entrant spike through a hole in the microbump.

We developed an all-fiber component with a signal feedthrough capable of combining up to 6 fiber-coupled multi-mode pump sources to a maximum pump power of 400 W at efficiencies in the range of 89 to 95%, providing the possibility of transmitting a high power signal in forward and in reverse direction. Hence, the fiber combiner can be implemented in almost any fiber laser or amplifier architecture. The complete optical design of the combiner was developed based on ray tracing simulations and confirmed by experimental results.

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Qualitative uncertainties are a key challenge for the further industrialization of additive manufacturing. To solve this challenge, methods for measuring the process states and properties of parts during additive manufacturing are essential. The subject of this review is in-situ process monitoring for material extrusion additive manufacturing. The objectives are, first, to quantify the research activity on this topic, second, to analyze the utilized technologies, and finally, to identify research gaps. Various databases were systematically searched for relevant publications and a total of 221 publications were analyzed in detail. The study demonstrated that the research activity in this field has been gaining importance. Numerous sensor technologies and analysis algorithms have been identified. Nonetheless, research gaps exist in topics such as optimized monitoring systems for industrial material extrusion facilities, inspection capabilities for additional quality characteristics, and standardization aspects. This literature review is the first to address process monitoring for material extrusion using a systematic and comprehensive approach.

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The advancement of micro- and nanostructuring techniques in optics is driven by the demand for continuous miniaturization and the high geometrical accuracy of photonic devices and integrated systems. Here, UV-LED projection photolithography is demonstrated as a simple and low-cost approach for rapid generation of two-dimensional optical micro- and nanostructures with high resolution and accuracy using standard optics only. The developed system enables the projection of structure patterns onto a substrate with 1000-fold demagnification. Photonic devices, e.g., waveguides and microring resonators, on rigid or flexible substrates with varied geometrical complexity and overall structure dimensions from the nanometer to centimeter scale were successfully prepared. In particular, high-resolution gratings with feature sizes down to 150 nm and periods as small as 400 nm were realized for the first time by this approach. Waveguides made of doped laser active materials were fabricated, and their spontaneous emission was detected. The demonstrated superior performance of the developed approach may find wide applications in photonics, plasmonics, and optical materials science, among others.

Laser cutting of CFRP lightweight parts has the advantages of a contact-free, automatable and flexible processing for a prospective series production. For the development of strategies for laser cutting of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP), different scientific approaches exist to achieve a process with small heat affected zones (HAZ), and high cutting rates. Within this paper a cw laser, a nanosecond and a picosecond laser source emitting in the near infrared range have been used in combination with a scanning system to cut CFRP with a thermoplastic matrix. The influence of the scanning speed on the size of the HAZ and the corresponding tensile strength were investigated for each laser source. Furthermore, the authors compared the achievable HAZ and the effective cutting speeds of the different setups in order to evaluate the efficiency and quality of the chosen strategies. The results show that a nanosecond pulsed laser source with high average power is a good trade-off between attainable quality and cutting rate.