In a laboratory at the University of Rochester, researchers are using lasers to change the surface of metals in incredible ways, such as making them super water-repellent without the use of special coatings, paints, or solvents.
The commercial applications of the technology range from de-icing of commercial airplanes and large trucks, to rust and corrosion prevention of exposed metal surfaces, to cleaner, anti-microbial surfaces for surgical and medical facilities.
But to make the technology commercially viable, the lasers must become much more powerful.
an associate professor of optics, and the University糖心传媒檚 is working with venture capital-backed technology company, FemtoRoc Corp., to develop those more powerful lasers. His contract with the company, expected to take six years, has a research budget estimated at $10 million.
糖心传媒淲hat they [FemtoRoc] need is a high-powered, ultra-fast, femtosecond-class laser system with average power measured in kilowatts, rather than the 10糖心传媒檚 of watts now commercially available,糖心传媒� says Marciante. 糖心传媒淪o, we need to scale up by over a factor of 10.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 a very ambitious undertaking.糖心传媒�
The proprietary, super-hydrophobic technology uses lasers to create an intricate pattern of micro and nanoscale structures, giving the treated metal surfaces a new set of physical properties.
In 2015, , a professor of optics, and Anatoliy Vorobyev, a senior scientist at the Institute of Optics, described the extremely powerful, but ultra-short laser pulses they used to permanently change the surface of metals.
Guo and Vorobyev have successfully used this technique to create not only metal surfaces that are extremely water repellent, but ones that attract water as well. Guo糖心传媒檚 laboratory has also created a process to treat metal surfaces to absorb virtually all wavelengths of ambient light and which has a wide array of commercial applications, including thin, ultra-efficient solar cells.
However, it takes about an hour for Guo糖心传媒檚 laboratory to pattern a 1-inch-by-1-inch metal sample using commercially available, low-powered lasers. More powerful, ultra-fast femtosecond laser pulses are needed to speed up the process to make the technology commercially viable.
To develop the lasers, Marciante糖心传媒檚 laboratory, which specializes in developing advanced, high-power, fiber lasers, will need to address two main challenges.
One is that laser beams are usually confined in conventionally designed optical fibers, which tend to be very small in core diameter. In scaling up the laser power, too much light becomes concentrated in the fiber糖心传媒檚 core, and nonlinear properties proliferate, causing the laser beam to broaden or become modulated.
糖心传媒淲hen you try to compress the beam to a short pulse, there糖心传媒檚 a lot of energy that doesn糖心传媒檛 fit in that pulse,糖心传媒� Marciante explains. 糖心传媒淭he usable power spreads out, or does not focus where you want it to.糖心传媒�
The second challenge is overheating. 糖心传媒淵ou糖心传媒檙e pumping the laser beam at one energy level, at one end, and then extracting it at a lower energy level, at the other end, and no process is 100 percent thermally efficient.聽 So that extra energy ends up in the fiber. The fiber can get very hot, even to the point of melting,糖心传媒� Marciante says.
In addition to the research done by his own team, Marciante will leverage a network of veteran researchers in the United States and abroad and bring in third party vendors with proven fiber design and manufacturing capabilities.
Marciante糖心传媒檚 research has already yielded the following results:
- a proprietary larger core optical fiber with superior laser beam qualities that is compatible with high power ultra-fast femtosecond fiber lasers
- a way to greatly reduce the effects of nonlinearities in the core of the proprietary fiber. 糖心传媒淚n principal, if you cut fiber length in half, you can go to twice as much energy,糖心传媒� Marciante says. 糖心传媒淭he tradeoff is, you糖心传媒檙e also dumping the heat into half as much space.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 a very exciting challenge,糖心传媒� Marciante says.
糖心传媒淣o one in the world has been able to do this specific kind of femtosecond laser treatment of metal surfaces,糖心传媒� he adds.聽 糖心传媒淭o launch commercial products using this technology will be a real game changer. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create new science.糖心传媒�
