A Beam of Innovative Light for 30 Years - Heraeus Noblelight Ltd. Celebrates Birthday

At the end of last year, Heraeus Noblelight Ltd celebrated a special company anniversary in Cambridge: 30 years of laser lamp production to the highest technical level. Reason enough to review the latest innovations and to look at current developments.

When John and David Littlechild set up Noblelight Ltd near Cambridge in 1978, laser technology was then in its infancy and used mainly in research. The company began to produce laser excitation lamps and grew quickly, not least because of the triumphal march of lasers into the industrial arena. Already in the 1980s the company was distinguishing itself by its power of innovation. For example, it was closely involved in the development of the first “longlife” CW (continuous) laser lamp.

After its take-over by the precious metals- and technology company Heraeus in 1986, and the resulting access to advanced lamp manufacturing technology and highly developed quartz glass expertise, the innovation story of Heraeus Noblelight Ltd progressed even further. For example, in 2002, for the first time, a continuous laser lamp with an operating life of 500 hours was developed. In 2006, with the NextGen series, a flash lamp with a significantly increased operating life entered the market. Instead of the then current 500,000 million pulses, the operating life was increased to 3,000,000 million pulses under extreme conditions such as long pulse length and high power. Today, lasers, and hence laser lamps, are used in a wide range of applications: welding, cutting, marking and engraving. Lamp-pumped lasers are still an important technology because of their low investment costs, high output power, robustness and easy maintenance. Furthermore, xenon- and krypton lamps are now used in non-laser applications such as solar simulation and cosmetics.

Customer-focused application development still pushes out the boundaries of laser performance. Recently, a well known Swiss laser manufacturer entrusted Heraeus with the development of a special laser excitation lamp. This was for a new precision laser for the very precise cutting of medical products such as stents. This new lamp had to work reliably under very difficult conditions with ultra-short pulses of less than 30 microseconds. Furthermore, the lamp had to have twice the operating life of a conventional lamp. To develop the new lamp, a German-British development from Heraeus worked intensively with the laboratory for lamp technology at the Kaiserlautern University of Applied Sciences. This University has been a collaborative partner of Heraeus Noblelight for many years. Using a high speed camera, the motion of the plasma in the lamp was precisely observed and analysed at 100 frames per second. As a result, the resonance effect in the plasma, for example, could be observed as it influences the output of the lamp at certain operating frequencies. By constructive modifications to the lamp, this resonance effect was eliminated so that the suitability of the lamp for very high frequencies was optimised.

Another current research project at the Kaiserlautern lamp laboratory for other lamp types relates to the investigation of electromagnetic compatibility. Especially for cosmetic IPL applications, RF noise (High frequency noise) can lead to certification problems for OEMs. Heraeus Noblelight and Kaiserlautern University are leaders in the development of lamps with very low RF noise levels.

Consistent Quality
A deciding factor in the stability of a laser is the constant high quality of the excitation lamp. Above all, the tolerance from lamp to lamp is an important aspect. Only when the range of variation is minimal, can the laser – and consequently the application – function reliably and accurately. In order to minimise lamp-specific tolerances, the manufacturing stages at Heraeus Noblelight are continuously optimised and automated. As a result, a very high and reproducible quality is achieved. Two examples: The hermetic connection between the quartz glass of the lamp body and the tungsten electrode is known as the “Seal”. The “Seal” must compensate for the different thermal expansion coefficients of quartz glass and tungsten. The stronger and more reliable the connection, the greater the lamp operating life. By automating the “Seal” process at Heraeus, the stability of the connection has been consistently improved and the quality and operating life of the laser lamps could be further increased.

In addition, Heraeus Noblelight Ltd has introduced a modern pump process for laser lamps. This allows a high purity of the noble gas in the lamp, minimises unwanted spectra and extends operating life. The automated production line is a world leader of its type and in the future, the company intends to invest more in its manufacturing processes to improve quality even further and reduce delivery times.

As the birthday cake was finally cut, John Littlechild, today working in the research and development team at Heraeus Noblelight Ltd., could be pleased – both with the way things have gone over the past few years and also with the way things are going in the future.

Heraeus Noblelight GmbH with its headquarters in Hanau and with subsidiaries in the USA, Great Britain, France, China, Australia and Puerto Rico, is one of the technology- and market-leaders in the production of specialist light sources. In 2007, Heraeus Noblelight had an annual turnover of 90 Million € and employed 666 people worldwide. The organisation develops, manufactures and markets infrared and ultraviolet emitters for applications in industrial manufacture, environmental protection, medicine and cosmetics, research, development and analytical laboratories.

Heraeus, the precious metals and technology group headquartered in Hanau, Germany, is a global, private company with over 155 years of tradition. Our businesses include precious metals, sensors, dental and medical products, quartz glass, and specialty lighting sources. With product revenues of € 3 billion and precious metal trading revenues of € 9 billion, as well as over 11,000 employees in more than 100 companies worldwide, Heraeus holds a leading position in its global markets.

Heraeus Noblelight GmbH
Mr. Thomas Lödel
Heraeusstraße 12-14
63450 Hanau, Germany
Phone +49 6181/35-8480
E-Mail: thomas.loedel@heraeus.com
www.heraeus-noblelight.com

This release was published on openPR.