Lasers & photonics
Traditional manufacturing lasers can struggle, particularly when it comes to
damaging devices.
The most popular example here involves so-called femtosecond lasers. Emitting pulses lasting just a millionth of a billionth of a second, in Thomson’s telling they “maximise the efficiency” with which the electrons in a material are stimulated. Hand makes a similar point. As he explains, the peak power of femtosecond devices is “so high” that pulses can be sent through a material – without damaging it. That means, he adds, that manufacturers “can actually machine inside things” without impacting the external structure.
“The performance of femtoseconds is growing year by year and the price is decreasing.”
Koji Sugioka
As Hand implies, the practical benefits of this technology are unsurprisingly vast. Perhaps most important is the remarkable focus of femtosecond lasers, with Thomson stressing that the “efficiency of laser manufacturing processes such as drilling and cutting can be maximised” without damaging nearby material. And if that’s useful right across the sector, Sugioka is keen to highlight the particular value of femtosecond machines in crafting high-tech medical solutions. One example are so-called ‘lab-on-a-chip’ devices, which integrate sophisticated DNA sequencing or biochemical detection capabilities into a tiny collection of wires and circuit boards. And if that obviously has eye-catching medical consequences – potentially allowing us to diagnose cancer and Alzheimer’s, among other conditions – Sugioka says that labs-on-a-chip represent “one of the most relevant applications” of femtosecond lasers. That’s shadowed, Sugioka notes, by the fabrication of ‘nano’ devices. One example are
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microvalves that prevent the reversal of blood flow in human veins; another are microneedles for transdermal drug delivery. For their part, both Thomson and Hand emphasise the potential of femtosecond lasers to assist in the building of optical components. Offering an example, Thomson describes his work on what’s known as Raman spectroscopy, an analytical technique to understand chemical structures. “The micro-optic systems we have developed,” he says of his team’s new biopsy devices, “not only enable the Raman to pump light to be focused into the tissue, and the Raman- shifted light to be efficiently collected, they also provide passive alignment features for optical fibres.” Ultimately, Thomson adds, this could lead to the development of probes that don’t require the alignment of fibres and optics. That could cut costs drastically – something that wouldn’t have been possible without ultrafast laser inscription (ULI).
Mix and match To put it differently, femtosecond lasers and similar machines promise to revolutionise medical practice. All the same, it’d be wrong to imagine that these devices are a panacea. For one thing, several experts highlight the price of ultrafast pulse lasers. Fair enough: according to one estimate, they can cost manufacturers as much as $250,000. Sugioka has broader concerns, arguing that “increasing laser power, and the reliability of laser systems, is definitely necessary”. Then there’s the question of whether femtosecond machines are even always needed. After all, though Hand is excited about the potential of femtosecond solutions, he stresses that older models shouldn’t be consigned to the scrapheap. As he puts it: “If they’re suitable for your process, the longer pulse lasers are lower cost, so they’re better to use.” Yet if less complicated devices, for instance pacemaker containers, can be comfortably welded using nanosecond lasers, there are signs that change is coming to the femtoseconds too. “The performance of femtoseconds is growing year by year,” Sugioka says, “and the price is decreasing thanks to the great effort of laser manufacturers. Therefore, I’m very optimistic about the use of femtosecond lasers on production lines in the near future.” Thomson, for his part, is similarly sanguine. Especially when it comes to stents and other essential kit, he says that femtosecond technology has already proved transformative. And though he’s uncertain about its application in other areas, he suggests the potential of ULI is “too attractive a capability” for manufacturers to ignore. If only those early innovators in New Jersey could come back and see it. ●
Medical Device Developments /
www.nsmedicaldevices.com
Christian
DelbertShutterstock.com
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