R&D of spatial light control technology

We introduce applications that can be realized using spatial light control technology.

Realization of stable material processing by introducing a spatial light modulator into a manufacturing line

Advances in spatial light control technology can be expected to achieve both high-quality micromachining, high throughput, and stable machining performance, which were issues with conventional laser machining.

  • Low precise control of laser processing position
  • Long time to optimize a laser processing condtion
  • Low processing speed

  • Enabling to control beam position more preciesly, and dynamically
  • Enabling to compensate laser processing conditions for external perturbations such as temperature, humidity, and laser itself
  • Enabling to increase the laser system throughput and processing speed

Advantage to manufacturing line

Uniform processing results through digital feedback control that enables variable focusing intensity

The spatial light modulator (SLM) can change wavefront or spatial light dynamically within liquid crystal (LC) modulation speed. As a consequence, SLM can move laser focusing spot, increase and decrease the number of focusing spot or width of them arbitrarily, and it can realize high reproducibility with digital signal contolling.

The SLM could stabilize the laser process to an optimal condition by monitoring the state of the laser beam. This feedback control is achieved digitally, which is one of the features of the SLM.

Digital feed back operation

Processing point modulation

Realization of Cyber-Physical System (CPS) 

In near future, laser process conditions (i.e. "process recipes") will be optimized in a cyber space. Machine learning with artificial intelligence (AI) caluculates numerous combinations of parameters, deriving an optimum condition. The derived process recipe is transferred to a laser processing machine in a physical space.

This process is called Cyber-Physical System (CPS) based laser processing. In the CPS based laser processing, it is important not only to develop sensing technology from the physical to the cyber space, but also to develop a hardware to reproduce the derived process recipes in the physical space. One of key technologies to realize the CPS is a device of controlling light precisely, which is the spatial light control technology.

The optimal laser processing parameters, such as intensity, beam diameter, and focused shape, largely depend on the material under processing. A time-consuming process is therefore required to find best combination among numerous parameters. Fortunately, the use of the SLM could reduce the time required to this process. It enables us to obtain laser processing results with a number of different conditions in a short period of time.

In addition, adaptive control is possible by using the SLM. It is expected that laser process and its optimization are carried out simultaneously in combination with a laser process database in the cyber space.

Application to Cyber-Phisycal System (CPS)

Contact us for more information about our R&D