Welcome to PowerPhotonic’s April 2025 news bulletin covering:
- Profile on the meetoptics portal
- Product showcase of the Multi-Spot Generator and Variable Beam Shaper at Photonics West
- Video – Steve Kidd (Head of Sales and Marketing) explains the benefits of the Coherent Beam Combining Module (CBC Module) at Photonics West
- Continuation of the ‘Soni-Shape-Laser’ research project (until 2026) for increasing productivity in the laser welding of EV battery casings.
- Alex Griffiths, lead engineer at PowerPhotonic, wins the prestigious, Individual Innovation Award at Industrial Laser Association Symposium (ILAS) for the company’s ‘Tailshaper’ for welding product.
Profile on the meetoptics portal
Customers can now purchase PowerPhotonic standard products on meetoptics; the specialist portal for worldwide suppliers of optics and photonics products, components and services. The portal uses custom selection filters and categories to simplify the sourcing process, helping customers to find, compare and purchase PowerPhotonic’s freeform, beam shaping products. PowerPhotonic has profiled its precision, high-power, freeform optics components and modules, aimed at industrial laser processing, ophthalmology, and laser display markets.
Please see our products here –
https://www.meetoptics.com/search?q=PowerPhotonic
Product showcase of the Multi-Spot Generator and Variable Beam Shaper at Photonics West
PowerPhotonic’s Multi-Spot Generator produces an array of spots from a single mode, input beam, essential for parallel, laser processing. It improves efficiency and performance in a wide range of surface functionalization applications including hydrophobic laser induced periodic structured surfaces (LIPSS) and multiple additive manufacturing applications.
Its fused silica, freeform optics, has conversion efficiencies far higher than traditional, diffractive elements using binary gratings, with excellent spot-to-spot uniformity; extreme, low scatter; and high power-handling capabilities in both pulsed and continuous wave operation.
PowerPhotonic’s Variable Beam Shaper is a freeform, optical innovation, where a single mode, Gaussian laser beam can be shaped into one of three different output profiles; a Gaussian spot; a flat top circular spot; or a ring-shaped spot (other shapes available upon request) These output spot profiles, form a single optical element transition seamlessly by adjusting the input laser beam diameter. The Variable Beam Shaper unlocks market opportunities previously considered cost prohibitive and targets laser welding, additive manufacturing and specialist surface functionalization applications.
More information about the Multispot Generator here –
https://www.powerphotonic.com/multi-spot-generator/
More information about the Variable Beam Shaper here –
https://www.powerphotonic.com/products/variable-beam-shapers/
Video – Steve Kidd (Head of Sales and Marketing) explains the benefits of the Coherent Beam Combining Module (CBC Module) at Photonics West
PowerPhotonic’s Steve Kidd explains the benefits of the company’s Coherent Beam Combining Module (CBC Module) in this video from Photonics West in January. The Coherent Beam Combiner (CBC) converts light from input fibers into a tiled array of collimated and shaped beams. These can be coherently combined to produce levels of brightness and power in bucket significantly greater than traditional, gaussian beam systems. It enables market-leading levels of performance in laser directed energy systems – the result of precise design and manufacture of its optical elements, including beam shapers, aberration correctors and phase flatteners.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7300109105984139264/
Continuation of the ‘Soni-Shape-Laser’ research project (until 2026) for increasing productivity in the laser welding of EV battery casings.
PowerPhotonic is successfully continuing its collaborative research project for the ‘Soni-Shape-Laser’ with Carrs Welding, Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) and IONETIC, developing a new type of laser welding process for EV (Electric Vehicle) battery casings.
PowerPhotonic designed and manufactured a precision, freeform, fused silica beam shaper for the project, capable of handling up to 100 kW of power, with minimal scatter. Dr. Emma Modrate, who leads the project at PowerPhotonic, said, “The Beam Shaper demonstrated a 20% increase in the productivity of EV battery box welding, with up to 50% faster production run changeovers. It should also improve welding accessibility in confined or restricted areas; deliver up to 15% weight saving through intense use of aluminium with no filler wire; reduce energy consumption by as much as 20%; maintain or improve weld strength; and produce less harmful, carbon emissions.”
For more information about the project –
Dr. Alex Griffiths, lead engineer at PowerPhotonic, wins the prestigious, Individual Innovation Award at Industrial Laser Applications Symposium (ILAS) for the company’s ‘Tailshaper’ product.
Dr. Alex Griffiths has won the prestigious, Individual Innovation Award from the Association of Industrial Laser Users (AILU), at this year’s Industrial Laser Applications Symposium (ILAS). The award was for his part in the design of the company’s ‘Tailshaper’ product; a refractive, freeform, beam shaping, optic that enables tailored, laser spot geometry, creating beam profiles which pre-heat and cool metal on either side of the weld spot. This enhances laser welding processes in Electric Vehicle (EV), lithium-ion battery packs, improving their structural integrity and safety.
Alex also presented his paper, “Asymmetric Beam Shapes for Improving Laser Welding Performance,” at ILAS. In this, he examines the advantages that asymmetrtic beams provide in laser welding. The paper showed how these beam shapers reduce hot cracking and improve tensile strength in autogenous welding of aluminium 6082. Further work was presented in methods for variable beam shaping with asymmetric beams, to allow process optimisation and increased beam shape flexibility.
For more information about the award please read here –