LIGHT IN OUR LIVES
This year’s International Day of Light theme reflects the countless ways in which light is central to our human existence:
"Light is at the very crossroads of all the components of UNESCO’s mandate. From making science more open and promoting careers in research, especially for women, to making commitments to education, to cultural diversity and diversity of heritage, and to the free distribution of information, our organization’s efforts all share a single vision - a brighter future." Ms. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO.
Laser light as a tool is an integral part of our daily work: It's precise, efficient and versatile. The first working laser was built by Theodore Maiman, who successfully fired it for the first time on May 16, 1960. Today, we're celebrating this year's International Day of Light | "Light in our lives" with a tribute to the laser light in our lives.
1. Globally unique design and setup of a pump-probe system.
2. Use of single photons as information carriers in photonic quantum computing.
3. In this setup, three-dimensional laser beam shaping is operated using cascaded spatial light modulators.
4. LPBF: metal-based additive manufacturing of components.
5. Laser material processing: The robot uses light to carry out precise cuts on the workpiece.
6. Copper removal process, whose ideal parameters were calculated by autonomous optimization. By using machine learning-supported parameter search, respective process parametes can be automatically optimized for target variables (e.g. efficiency, surface roughness).
Check out our respective channels to explore the various laser applications in depth.
© Forschungscampus DPP, Aachen. Fraunhofer ILT / V. Lannert. Fraunhofer ILT. Lehrstuhl für Lasertechnik LLT, RWTH Aachen. Lehrstuhl für Technologie Optischer Systeme TOS, RWTH Aachen.