IMRA America Announces New Femtosecond Micromachining License Options at InterOpto 2006

ANN ARBOR, MI, August 3, 2006 —

At this year’s InterOpto Conference, held at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba-city, Japan, attendees had the opportunity to learn about a new cooperative agreement between Cyber Laser and IMRA America that provides users of femtosecond micromachining processes freedom of use of patented processes developed by the University of Michigan, in all areas except human health and cosmetics.

In a presentation at the Cyber Laser and Laser Focus World co-sponsored event, “3rd Annual Advanced Laser Seminar”, held on July 13, 2006, Mr. Takashi Omitsu, President of IMRA America, Inc. described one specific aspect of IMRA’s comprehensive program to provide customers with solutions in precision material processing. By IMRA extending rights to the patent family, including U.S. patent 5,656,186, “Method for controlling configuration of laser induced breakdown and ablation”, to Cyber Laser through their purchase of IMRA’s ultrafast fiber lasers, Cyber Laser’s customers can obtain rights to use their material processing methods without any concern for infringement of the basic patent governing use of ultrafast lasers for material processing.

The University of Michigan patent discloses a method for producing micron-level features in a variety of materials without inducing thermal damage to surrounding material. The method utilizes ultrashort laser pulses such as the ones produced by IMRA’s family of ultrafast fiber lasers, which includes the FemtoliteTM Ultra seeder used by Cyber Laser, along with IMRA’s FCPA μJewelTM series of high-repetition rate, microJoule-pulsed amplified systems suitable for precision material processing inside transparent materials and on surfaces. Many applications can benefit from the use of ultrafast laser micromachining, which allows for smaller feature sizes than those of other laser machining techniques. This capability is made possible by the extremely short time that the light is in interaction with the material, thus avoiding thermal damage.

IMRA’s presentation was met with great interest by the attendees. Commenting on the feedback he received after the talk, Takashi Omitsu stated, “IMRA’s ability to provide the protection of a license for ultrafast material processing to Cyber Laser has given Cyber Laser a strong competitive edge over their competitors in Japan and Asia. IMRA believes that this advantage will be important to other system integrators and end users of new processing techniques enabled by the reliable ultrafast fiber lasers that IMRA supplies. We are actively working to introduce our concepts to companies in the US and Europe.”

About IMRA America, Inc. Founded in 1990, IMRA America, Inc., headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., is a global-acting company dedicated to being the leader in the development of ultrafast fiber laser technologies for commercial applications. IMRA’s turnkey fiber lasers with their compact size, high stability and maintenance-free operation, are ideal optical pulse sources for: material processing, semiconductor inspection and repair, homeland security, instrumentation, medical diagnostics and therapy, and telecommunications. They are based on IMRA’s proprietary fiber oscillator, fiber amplifier, and advanced pulse compressor technologies, documented in over 70 U.S. patents and patent applications and many more worldwide. In addition to delivering innovation through its products, IMRA America offers its technologies through patent and technology licensing. For information, visit www.imra.com or call (734) 930-2560.

For more information, please contact:
Michelle Stock – Marketing Manager

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