Mid-IR ultra-short pulsed laser technology for science and green industry (MIR)

The primary goal of MIR is development of advanced mid-infrared (mid-IR) fine laser material processing tools for 3D micro-structuring of advanced materials for fundamental science and green industry.

On the fundamental science side, the novel laser technology will advance our understanding of the chemical reactions on the atomic level by allowing to build a compact X-Ray light source in water window. The X-Ray source can be applied in biomedicine. The Mid-IR lasers can be further applied in life and environmental sciences for ultra-sensitive real-time monitoring of pollutants, viruses, bacteria and early diagnostics of diseases and cancer. Finally, they will be applied to nuclear and atomic physics and will advance our understanding of Bose-Einstein condensate of positronium and positronium based gamma-ray laser.

The intensive interdisciplinary international collaboration between the scientists in the fields of lasers, photonics, materials, and energy under close guidance of the Norwegian Industrial Advisory Board (NORSUN, BEYONDER and ATLA Lasers) will provide the critical mass and complementary competence for such large scale multidisciplinary international project as MIR. This will lead to the creation of the immediate value for both, society and the Norwegian industry.

Based on the proof-of-principles and laser prototypes demonstrated by the project partners and enhanced by interdisciplinarity and large scale format MIR will enable ultra-precise rapid (1 m/s) and user-friendly tool for 3D micro-fabrication in silicon, other semiconductors and novel composite materials for solar cells and Li-batteries, and many other industrial applications. These laser tools will help manufacturing such sustainable materials for the energy sector, such as kerf-less silicon wafers for photovoltaic applications, novel micro-structured battery materials, a variety of MEMs for microelectronics or an ultra-sensitive Si-detector for XUV, just to name a few. Following the completion of the project, the developed laser technology will be transferred to the Norwegian industry.

The MIR project's primary goal is to develop mid-infrared (mid-IR) fine laser material processing tools for the microstructuring of advanced materials for fundamental science and the green industry.

These tools are based on power-scaling of the novel ultra-short pulsed mid-infrared laser technology developed in the two NFR projects in Nanomat and ENERGIX programs. In addition, the methodology from the newly granted SFI-Phys Met and UNLOCK projects will be used to provide the critical mass necessary for such large-scale multidisciplinary international projects as MIR. Based on the proof-of-principles demonstrated in the above projects and enhanced by interdisciplinarity, internationality and large-scale format of MIR the developed laser processing technology will enable:

•          an ultra-precise (sub-micron), rapid (1 m/s) and user-friendly laser processing tool for 3D micro-fabrication of silicon, compound semiconductors and novel composite materials

•          advanced and sustainable materials, such as (e.g.) kerf-less silicon wafers and foils for photovoltaic (PV) applications, novel micro-structured battery materials, a variety of MEMs, a novel type of ultra-sensitive Si-detector for XUV and synchrotron radiation, to name a few;

•          Si micro-structured devices to tackle such global fundamental science problems as cooling membranes, production and cooling of positronium atoms in Si microcavities - a path towards Bose-Einstein condensation of positronium and positronium based gamma-ray laser;

•          3D micro-structures to be used at LHC collider at CERN for atomic interferometry for measuring the local gravitational field or probing physics at the highest energy scales;

Besides the new horizons that ultrafine micro-structuring will bring, there is an added value that the further development of this ultra-short pulse laser technology will bring. Indeed, to develop such intense lasers for micro-processing, the project will develop novel micro-structured wave-guide laser architectures and implement such an innovative concept as a coherent beam combining multiple waveguides on a chip. This, in turn, will enable other breakthroughs:

•          a new state-of-the-art source of water window high harmonic generation for ultrafast spectroscopy, XUV diffraction imaging of biomolecules and Photo-Electron Emission microscopy - to understand chemical reactions on the atomic level;

•          an ultra-sensitive real-time in-vivo monitoring of pollutants, viruses, and bacteria as well as early diagnostics of major diseases  and cancer, in collaboration with the NTNU biophysics group

•          theoretical model of the energy-harvesting mechanisms in the laser/amplifier-systems, based on mode-area scaling and spatiotemporal dynamics on a femtosecond time scale;

• photonic-based “metaphorical modeling" tool for studying Bose-Einstein condensation of positronium and positronium-based gamma-ray laser – an ambitious goal of MIR collaborators at CERN and the University of Trento.