Laser Technologies for Future Manufacturing

现代制造业已经被光子学彻底改变了。激光是这场革命的核心，因为它们将继续改变快速变化的制造业格局。光电子制造业每年为英国经济带来105亿英镑的价值，年增长率约为8.5%，直接雇佣超过7万人。英国光子学出口目前是英国制造业的第四大出口国，仅次于汽车、航空航天和机械出口。更重要的是，英国光子公司75%以上的产量用于出口，而英国制造业的平均水平仅为34%。激光技术尤其支撑着英国航空航天、汽车、电子、制药和医疗保健工程领域的许多领先行业。四十年来，南安普顿大学光电子研究中心一直处于光子学研究的前沿。它在光纤、激光、波导、器件和光电材料方面的长期和良好的记录促进了创新、企业和跨界多学科活动。由光电子研究中心（Optoelectronics Research Centre）分拆出来的公司在南安普顿制造的先进光纤和激光子系统出口到世界各地。我们与英国光电行业密切合作，高度协同的团队将最佳地将联合收割机不同的激光技术结合到混合平台中，以实现快速、高效、低成本、灵活和可重新配置的智能激光系统，并具有软件驱动的性能。这是唯一可能的，因为可控的，稳定的和鲁棒的，全固态性质的导波激光器。智能激光器看起来就像它的电子等效物-一个小型密封免维护外壳，具有完全受控的输出，可以响应工件的变化。激光器知道它正在加工什么材料，过程如何发展以及何时完成。它能够适应材料、形状、反射率、厚度和方向的变化。这导致了新的工具，使创新的制造工艺，这是至关重要的，在重要的制造业部门提高竞争力。最后，在该平台内开发的先进激光技术预计将在制造竞技场以外的领域产生更广泛的影响，如传感、医疗保健和医疗部门，以及有助于建立重要的激光主权能力的国土安全。

Modern manufacturing has been revolutionised by photonics. Lasers are central to this revolution, as they continue to transform the fast-changing manufacturing landscape. Photonics manufacturing represents an industry worth £10.5bn per annum to the UK economy, growing at about 8.5% annually and directly employing more than 70,000 people. UK Photonics exports are currently the 4th largest by value of any UK manufacturing sector, following automotive, aerospace and machinery exports. More importantly, UK Photonics exports more than 75% of its output relative to the UK manufacturing average of only 34%. Laser technology in particular underpins a number of leading UK industries in the aerospace, automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals and healthcare engineering sectors. Over four decades, the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton has maintained a position at the forefront of photonics research. Its long and well-established track record in fibres, lasers, waveguides, devices, and optoelectronic materials has fostered innovation, enterprise, and cross-boundary multi-disciplinary activities. Advanced fibres and laser sub-systems, manufactured in Southampton by companies spun-out from the Optoelectronics Research Centre, are exported worldwide.Working closely with UK photonics industry, our interconnected and highly synergetic group will optimally combine different laser technologies into hybrid platforms for miniaturised, efficient, low-cost, agile and reconfigurable smart laser systems with software-driven performance. This is only possible because of the controllable, stable and robust, all-solid state nature of guided-wave lasers. A smart laser looks like its electronic equivalent - a single small sealed maintenance-free enclosure with a fully controlled output that is responsive to changes in the workpiece. The laser knows what material it is processing, how the process is developing and when it is finished. It is able to adapt to changes in the materials, their shape, reflectivity, thickness and orientation. This leads to new tools that enable innovative manufacturing processes that are critical in increasing competitiveness in important manufacturing sectors. Finally, the advanced laser technologies developed within this platform are expected to have a wider impact outside the manufacturing arena, in areas such as sensing, healthcare, and the medical sectors, as well as homeland security helping to establish an important laser sovereign capability.