IMRA America launches the FCPA µJewel IMRA’s newest amplified ultrafast fiber laser

 IMRA America, Inc. announces the release of its newest ultrashort pulsed fiber laser product line, the FCPA µJewel, at two major conference venues: 

The FCPA mJewel family offers microJoule level pulse energy at near infrared-wavelength at high repetition rate (10 kHz up to 5 MHz).   This is the first femtosecond laser that offers microjoule energies with widely variable repetition rates in a single-box package, which requires no alignment during installation.   The FCPA µJewel offers a “plug-and-play” solution which can be user installed by simply connecting an umbilical cord.  No water-cooling is required.  The installation is simpler than setting up a home-desktop computer, giving unprecedented ease and access to femtosecond micromachining lasers. 

The unique ablation properties of femtosecond lasers render higher precision in micromachining with reduced thermal effects, as well as a reduction in debris, recast, and burring.  Additionally, they allow easier cutting and drilling of transparent materials with less collateral damage to the workpiece.   These unique processing capabilities are being exploited in the semiconductor industry as well as the field of ophthalmic surgery.  The remarkably clean ablation properties stem from the extremely high peak power and short pulse duration, which ionizes and vaporizes materials quickly before thermal effects such as heat diffusion can occur.  “We believe that the new FCPA µJewel ultrafast fiber laser product line will have a revolutionary effect on the precision micromachining of materials for the semiconductor and biomedical industries, as well as enable a host of other emerging application areas” said Tak Omitsu, President of IMRA America.

Production of the FCPA mJewel will be based at IMRA’s Production facility in Ann Arbor, MI which was opened in 2002.   Production of IMRA’s well-established Femtolite laser series will remain in Japan.  The FCPA mJewel  is based on the first commercial femtosecond laser, which can reach microJoule energy levels without the use of traditional Titanium-Sapphire technology.  It is a production version of its predecessor, the FCPA laser whose innovative concept was honored with the “Commercial Technology Achievement Award” from Laser Focus World in 2001.    Significant advances in photonics packaging and oscillator technology have greatly simplified and enhanced the manufacturability of this laser technology.

 Users FCPA mJewel or other new lasers such as the D-200 (released in Jan. 2004) can see these lasers in action and even use them in application trials at IMRA’s Applications Research Lab (ARL) in Fremont, CA.   Some of ARL’s recent results in micromachining process development are being presented at the LPM 2004 conference in Nara, Japan.

For more information, please contact:
IMRA America, Inc.
1044 Woodridge Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Phone: (734) 930-2560
Fax: (734) 930-9957
e-mail: lasers@imra.com