The interaction of ultrashort pulsed laser radiation with intensities of 1013 W cm−2 and above with materials often results in an unexpected high X-ray photon flux. It has been shown so far, on the one hand, that X-ray photon emissions increase proportionally with higher laser power and the accumulated X-ray dose rates can cause serious health risks for the laser operators. On the other hand, there is clear evidence that little variations of the operational conditions can considerably affect the spectral X-ray photon flux and X-ray emissions dose. In order to enhance the knowledge in this field, four ultrashort pulse laser systems for providing different complementary beam characteristics were employed in this study on laser-induced X-ray emissions, including peak intensities between 8 × 1012 W∙cm−2 < I0 < 5.2 × 1016 W∙cm−2, up to 72.2 W average laser power as well as burst/bi-burst processing mode. By the example of AISI 304 stainless steel, it was verified that X-ray emission dose rates as high as H˙′ (0.07) > 45 mSv h−1 can be produced when low-intensity ultrashort pulses irradiate at a small 1 µm intra-line pulse distance during laser beam scanning and megahertz pulse repetition frequencies. For burst and bi-burst pulses, the second intra-burst pulse was found to significantly enhance the X-ray emission potentially induced by laser pulse and plasma interaction.

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Besides the „classical”︁ inorganic solar cells based on silicon, research on novel solar cell technologies has been intensified in the last years. The focus has been put especially on organic solar cells (OPV). Their industrial production has been made possible only recently.Organic solar cells constitute an alternative to common mono‐ and polycrystalline solar cells as well as the novel thin‐film technologies. Silicon, CIS/CIGS (Copper‐Indium‐Gallium‐Selenide) and Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) are used as semiconductor materials for the last‐mentioned technology, which are largely made up of heavy metals. Highly poisonous and environmentally harmful chemicals are often involved in the production which requires large amounts of energy.

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As advancements thin-film and flexible electronics like printed organic solar cells and organic LEDs bring these devices close to market entry new processing technologies for cost-effective, high quality production have to be developed. Laser technology provides a huge potential to fulfill the demanding tasks that come with the transition from lab to factory. 3D-Micromac looked into the possibilities of ultra-short pulsed lasers for scribing of transparent conductive layers as well as active layers of organic solar cells. This paper presents the results of this research.