Micro technology, maxi success
Innovative companies are transforming Adlershof into a hot spot for microoptics and microsystems engineering
Developed by PT Photonic Tools, the technology is unique in this form and defies any cursory explanation. Björn Wedel nevertheless manages to give an understandable comparison: “Basically, it’s a power cable with integrated drilling machine. The only difference is that the cable doesn’t conduct electricity, but laser light precisely to the machined workpiece.” Together with Bernhard Lummer, he is the co-founder and co-Managing Director of PT Photonic Tools GmbH. Set up less than two years ago, this company develops, produces, and markets special laser tools that make ultra short pulse lasers suitable for many industrial applications.
The innovative system components for ultra short pulse lasers guide the laser beam without appreciable power losses to the workpiece where they are applied to great precision. “Here in Adlershof we have demonstrated the feasibility of this technology, and this will have a decisive effect on the uses of this laser type over the next few years,” said Wedel. The range of applications in industrial micromachining will expand dramatically – in the automotive, semiconductor, and electronics sectors. They all can now benefit from the advantages of ultra short, high energy pulse lasers that can process flexibly a wide range of materials, including plastics and carbon fibre composites. In doing so, they transfer virtually no heat to the workpiece, making them ideal for the surfaces e.g. of microchips or glass fibres.
“This isn’t an application for techies, but one with great market potential,” stressed Wedel. Also his optimism about the future reflects this view: the initial fifteen employees at the startup will grow to thirty to fifty in the next five years. “The growth of our company is supported further by the Adlershof infrastructure and the good recruiting potential here,” said Wedel.
Also eagleyard Photonics, a leading provider of high performance laser diodes, is pursuing ambitious plans for growth. CEO Jörg Muchametow is optimistic: employing 32, his company intends to double its present five million euro turnover in just five years and add ten new workers to its team. “Recruitment is easy because the countless research institutes and the universities in Berlin have many specialists in this field,” said Muchametow. No bigger than a grain of rice, laser diodes are sold all over the world by his Adlershof company, mostly to laser system manufacturers and research institutes. Their primary applications are in medical engineering, noncontacting instrumentation, spectroscopy, and space technology. The semiconductor technology eagleyard uses was developed at the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik (FBH). “The FBH continues to be our most important cooperation partner and supplier of semiconductor chips,” said Muchametow. His view of Adlershof and its “active research community” as a hot spot for microoptics also finds testimony in the companies that have made their home here, like Jenoptik Diode Lab, Corning Optical Communications, DirectPhotonic Industries, OpTricon, C2GO inprocess solutions, and AEMtec.
By Chris Löwer for Adlershof Special