Laser-Drilling Applications Google Scholar Results

We are doing a lot this year in anticipation of our 2nd International Light Seminar in October as well as in commemoration of this our 30th anniversary. 

We decided that we wanted to get a better handle on where our parts have gone and how they are being used. I have already gone through Lenox Laser in space with NASA here. Now I want to take it back down to Earth.

In order see where our parts have been used and cited, I went to Google Scholar
and searched for "Lenox Laser." Here is the link to the results: Google Scholar. What I found was fascinating.


While not all of the results are accessible, those that are provide key insights into laser-drilling applications. The three broad categories are articles, patents, and theses and dissertations. In my research, I have broken them down accordingly and ordered them chronologically by publication year. The following graph illustrates the results:

click on the picture to enlarge

Here one can see a snapshot of Lenox Laser and how we are increasingly in demand. This also illustrates how laser-drilling and nano technologies have been growing.

I, and a few others, will be going through all of the articles we can and blog about them. We will give a summary of the article and the field that it relates to. However the key will be what part or parts we made and the applications.

We are working on improving our Newsroom on our company website. It will have a page where all the articles in which we are cited will be listed, as well as direct links. That will be up and running very soon.

So for now, please peruse through the Google Scholar results. You can even add keywords to specify your search, such as aperture or orifice. And, as always, please visit our website for more about Lenox Laser's products and services.

Lenox Laser and NASA- Pioneering in Space

 

For 30 years, Lenox Laser has been involved in numerous NASA missions, providing quality parts and expertise. 

Exoplanet conceptualization. Credit: NASA

So in anticipation of our 30th anniversary, we have put together those missions which we have been involved in. It is truly amazing that we have some of our parts out in distant space providing critical data about our universe.

Only a few years after its invention, the LASER was used in NASA's pre-Moon landing missions in 1967. The founder of our company, Joseph d'Entremont, was involved in the laser testing and laser measuring of the distance of the Moon from Earth. He provided the backup system, which was successfully used after the primary contractor's system failed. He recalls that the power of the return signal he received was somewhere between a giga or terawatt.

Hubble Space Telescope:
We have had several parts on Hubble over the years. Starting in 1981, Lenox Laser provided precision crosshair fiducials and slits for the Hubble Instruments. We then twice provided custom stainless steel discs with crosses- in 1989 and 1991.

Galileo spacecraft. Credit: NASA

Galileo Mission:

In 1985, Lenox Laser drilled precision holes in Hasteloy discs for the Galileo Mission to Jupiter. They were for the Helium Leak Detector on the spacecraft. Galileo spent 14 years in space- 

7 to travel to Jupiter, and then 7 orbiting Jupiter and its moons. 

Galileo was then intentionally crashed onto Jupiter at the end of its mission to prevent contamination.

Kepler Mission:
1999 brought us the unique and monumental task of making a custom Starfield Plate for the Kepler Mission. This then led to the design and production of another "starfield" in 2000 for NASA's "Starfield" Project. The project is part of a system that can find orbiting bodies around distant astronomical bodies by detecting miniscule changes in light intensity. 


Messenger Mission:
We then made High Power Ceramic Apertures for the Messenger Mission which were for spatial filtering. The Messenger, and our apertures, orbited Venus on the way to its goal Mercury, where it is currently gathering information about the planet. The parts were hand delivered to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Light echo from a star. Credit: NASA Hubble

 
Mercury Laser Altimeter Project:
In 2003, Lenox Laser provided flight quality Alumina and Macor apertures for NASA's Mercury Laser Altimeter Project and the Space Lidar Technology Center.

STEREO Mission:
Most recently, we provided custom parts and consulting services for NASA's STEREO project which is providing revolutionary views of the Sun. The consulting was in support of testing the focus setting of one of the instruments during satellite integration at the Goddard Space Flight Center. As a result, Lenox Laser was awarded NASA's Instrument and Technology Division 2006 Contractor Team Spirit Award.

To read more about our pioneering with NASA and their missions, click through the following links:

General information

Lenox Laser Newsroom

Hubble Space Telescope

NASA site

Galileo Mission

NASA site

 Lenox Laser summary

Kepler Mission

 NASA site

 Lenox Laser summary

Messenger Mission

JHU-APL site

 Lenox Laser summary

STEREO Mission

NASA site

 Lenox Laser summary

New Breakthroughs in Metallic Glass and Laser Glass Drilling

In Live Science, there is a new article entitled "Bizarre Properties of Glass Revealed". It is about the new “breakthrough discovery in the bizarre properties of glass, which behaves at times like both a solid and a liquid.” The article can be found at http://www.livescience.com/technology/080623-glass-wings.html

Royall said, “knowing the structure formed by atoms as a glass cools represents a major breakthrough in the understanding of meta-stable materials and will allow further development of new strong yet light materials called metallic glasses. This stuff is generally shiny black in color, not transparent, due to having a lot of free electrons (think of mercury in an old thermometer).”

Lenox Laser, Inc. has also been a pioneer in developing advancements in glass processing. Our engineers were some of the first to successfully drill microholes in different types of glass accurately. Lenox Laser will also be a pioneer in the new field of metallic glasses that are currently being developed. These new glass types, mixed with exotic metals and materials, can revolutionize the optical, medical, biotechnology, space, semiconductor processing and scientific fields. Lenox Laser will be at the forefront of drilling the smallest microholes, apertures, orifices and arrays into these materials without the known risks of glass.

Lenox Laser is the premier microhole, aperture, and orifice glass driller in the industry. Our engineers can produce an aperture/orifice down to 5 microns. We mainly process the industry standard borosilicate glass, including the popular D263, but we have also processed quartz/fused silica, Pyrex variations, and soda-lime glasses. We specialize in drilling medical syringes, ampules, and vials for sophisticated leak detection systems, as well as drilling complex custom arrays in a variety of glass substrates. In addition, we have a complete line of standard glass products. Our list of customers includes many of the most recognizable names in the world, including government, university and private sector clients.

Small Hole Technologies

Hole Definition

In effect, a round hole is a cylindrical surface that extends between the front and back surfaces of a substrate sheet. Recent advances in laser hole drilling techniques have provided the means to produce precision holes in the one micron diameter region that are of a higher quality than that produced by the micro drill bit.

Mechanical Drilling

For centuries, people have made holes for many applications using the mechanical drill bit. The micro machining industry has been able to serve the market for small holes of a diameter greater than 25 microns (0.00098"). The industry, however, has found it difficult and challenging to economically produce precision small holes in the range less than 25 microns in diameter. In machining, the harder materials are more difficult to work and the very hard materials are impossible to work.

Laser Drilled Holes

Laser drilling is a non-contact procedure that yields a precision, clean, round and burr-free hole with sharp edges that may be easily reproduced for mass production. In, addition, harder materials are easier to drill and control than softer materials. Materials that are impossible to machine drill, such as diamond, sapphire, ruby, and alumina, are easily worked by the laser beam. The laser drilled small hole industry is now able to economically serve the market for small holes of a diameter less than 25 microns.

This does not imply that the laser is only useful for drilling microscopic sized holes. A hole of almost any size may be laser drilled. The drilling diameter is a function of the focused beam spot size. Larger diameter laser rods yield a larger focused spot. This new industry is a separate technology field. Lenox Laser, Inc. a leader in small hole technology has through use of recent advancements in laser drilling techniques, provides precision holes as small as one micron and below that may be reliably and quickly produced in a wide variety of materials. Small holes are drilled in discs in the range of 0.002" thickness, which are then mounted in a more massive holder for retention in the end use mechanical system.