Korea Institute of Optical Technology Achieves Localization of Blue Laser for Electric Vehicle Processing

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Jin-hyung] The Korea Photonics Technology Institute (President Shin Yong-jin) announced on the 16th that it has succeeded in the localization of a world-class industrial blue laser (Blue, 450nm) module with a power of 500W or more.

Dr. Han Su-wook's team at the Laser Research Center of the Korea Photonics Technology Institute developed a high-power industrial blue laser, which has recently become a global issue, following last year's localization of a 4.5kW fiber-coupled laser (Photos 1, 2).

The blue laser developed by Dr. Han's team is a world-class 500W fiber-coupled 450nm light source module (size: height 685mm, 19" Rack 15U size, including internal laser cooler and QBH cooler, Photo 3), and it is the world's first to adopt an integrated cooling device structure.

The technology developed this time is the latest in the field of high-power industrial lasers, previously only possessed by laser powerhouses such as the United States and Germany, and is the most spotlighted laser technology in the E-Mobility field (secondary batteries and electric vehicle production).

Until now, industrial lasers have used infrared and green wavelength lasers, but due to low energy absorption, there were limitations in processing non-ferrous metals such as aluminum, copper, and brass.

The blue laser developed this time secures revolutionary processing performance for lightweight metals by utilizing high energy absorption characteristics (more than 9 times the performance compared to existing fiber lasers, Photo 4).

Shin Yong-jin, President of the Korea Photonics Technology Institute, said, “The result of focusing our capabilities for the past 10 years to localize laser light sources, which were dependent on imports, is now leading to recent success,” and added, “We will continue to do our best so that domestic companies can secure international competitiveness through laser localization.”

Kim Sun-joo, CEO of Isang Tech, said, “The industrial blue laser technology of the Korea Photonics Technology Institute features the world's first integrated cooling water structure and is highly complete to be immediately applied in the industry,” and expressed, “We are very grateful to the Photonics Technology Institute for successfully developing this using domestic company parts.”

Dr. Seo Jung's team at the Laser Technology Industrialization Research Group of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (President Park Sang-jin) stated, “We plan to promote the early commercialization of industrial laser equipment incorporating the high-power blue laser technology developed this time.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.