PowerPhotonic Focus

Welcome to PowerPhotonic’s December news bulletin covering:

• Dr Andrea Geltrude joining the PowerPhotonic sales team
• Successful ICALEO, SPIE Photonex and PHABULOuS exhibitions and conferences
• Photonics Spectra ‘industry expert’ webinars
• EV laser welding grant worth £640k
• Variable Beam Shaper launch

Dr Andrea Geltrude joins the PowerPhotonic sales team

PowerPhotonic has appointed Dr Andrea Geltrude as Sales Manager EMEA, driving growth in material processing, bio-photonic and high-power, laser markets. He is a respected expert in semiconductors and optics, with knowledge of medical, lidar, telecoms, and datacoms applications. His experience comes from his time at Smart Photonics, Netherlands, a telecoms and automotive semiconductor fab; Santec Europe in London, a Japanese manufacturer of lasers, sensors and optics; and Solid Optics, Netherlands, producing optical transceivers, multiplexers, OADMs, and measuring tools.

Andrea has an Executive MBA from ESCP Business School and his Ph. D. is in Non-Linear Dynamics and Optical Systems, from the Istituto Nazionale Di Ottica (CNR), University of Firenze, Italy.

We enthusiastically welcome him to our growing team!

Successful ICALEO, SPIE Photonex and PHABULOuS exhibitions and conferences

PowerPhotonic has been launching products and presenting at the following exhibitions and conferences.

• ICALEO®, the International Congress on Applications of Lasers and Electro-Optics in Hollywood in October, covering applications, and transformative research in lasers and electro-optics, with Dr. Stephen Kidd presenting on Variable Beam Shaping for EV battery welding.
• SPIE Photonex in Manchester in October, with Dr. Stephen Kidd again covering the new, Variable Beam Shaper, designed for laser welding, including of EV battery packs.
• PHABULOuS, the Pilot Line Micro-Optics Summit and Expo in Amsterdam in December, with Emma Modrate presenting ‘Laser Welding in EV optimisation using beam shaping optics’ and Natalia Trela-McDonald presenting ‘Optimising beam shaping for high-precision medical applications’

Photonics Spectra ‘industry expert’ webinars

PowerPhotonic’s webinar, ‘How to Improve Laser Applications Using Freeform Optics’, which was part of Photonics Spectra Magazine’s industry expert series, was a huge success. The webinar explained the performance and commercial benefits of using freeform, wafer-scale optics instead of conventional optics in a range of applications requiring the optimisation of laser beam profiles. Real-life examples were used to communicate the many advantages of laser beam shaping using freeform, wafer scale optics, including coherent beam combining for laser fusion; blue laser welding of lithium-ion batteries; and fiber laser welding of aluminium, EV battery packs.

EV laser welding grant worth £640k.

PowerPhotonic has been part of a collaborative research project with industrial and academic partners to develop a new type of hybrid laser processing system to help optimise the welding of EV battery casings. Known as the ‘Soni-Shape-Laser’ project, it is funded as part of an Innovate UK research grant worth £640k.

The project aims to bring multiple welding benefits to customers, including increased safety in lithium-ion battery construction. It is an autogenous welding process using no wire or additional weld material. The resulting welds are hermetically sealed; expected to increase productivity in EV battery box welding by 20%; reduce energy consumption; maintain or improve weld strength and quality, with less porosity; and reduce carbon emissions.

Variable Beam Shaper launch

PowerPhotonic’s new Variable Beam Shaper, launched in October at SPIE Photonex and ICALEO, brings many benefits to laser welding, additive manufacturing and surface treatment markets. It enables a single mode, Gaussian laser beam to be focused into one of three different output profiles; a Gaussian spot; a flat top circular spot; or a ring-shaped spot. Selection and tuning of the desired spot profile, and the smooth transition between profiles, is achieved by simply adjusting the input laser beam diameter. It is a far simpler and more cost-effective solution for variable beam shaping than currently exists and targets applications in laser welding, additive manufacturing, and laser surface treatment.

Please contact PowerPhotonic for any further information about any of the subjects covered in this newsletter.

PowerPhotonic wishes customers, suppliers and other stakeholders warm Season’s Greetings and a happy and prosperous 2025.