The market for ultrafast lasers has experienced significant, sustained growth in recent years. Buoyed by the strong adoption of these lasers for materials processing, medical diagnostics, bio-imaging, telecommunications, defense, and security, experts expect the market to continue to expand as demand increases for precision solutions. Other developments, meanwhile, have advanced the performance of the laser sources. The possibility of manufacturing increasingly compact and reliable ultrafast lasers, in particular, has a direct tie to more accessible and versatile technologies, creating new opportunities for industry. According to recent estimates, the global ultrafast laser market is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of roughly 10% to 15% during the next few years. Following the Ultrafast Lasers Market Analysis: Industry Growth & Forecast 2023-2033 by Future Market Insights Inc., the global ultrafast lasers market size was valued at $1.5 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach $3.8 billion by 2033. Analysts have identified some hinderances to future growth, including adoption and integration costs, plus the related need for user-specialized expertise as well as the potential for market fragmentation. But they have also signaled some compelling opportunities and trends. These include the manufacture of specific components, the miniaturization of ultrafast lasers (for integration into compact devices), the exploration of new materials to expand the range of applications, and progress in beam shaping and control technologies to further enhance precision. Spotlight on applications High-accuracy processing operations such as micromachining and surface treatment/functionalization currently make up one of the largest fields of application for ultrafast lasers. Especially in high-growth sectors, including automotive, semiconductor, consumer electronics, and consumer goods, these processes must be performed repeatedly at high levels of accuracy. In response, manufacturers continue to pioneer exciting developments both in sources and components to improve performance on microprocessing tasks. Many of the latest developments are now pushing the boundaries of precision and versatility across a range of applications. Of course, improving the power, stability, and tunability of ultrafast lasers is critical to obtain higher energy pulses while maintaining exceptional temporal precision. Burst-mode techniques, for example, offer flexibility in pulse duration and timing, allowing users to harness laser energy in the most efficient way possible and adapt the laser parameters to the specific characteristics of a given task1. As it translates into application, developing commercial solutions with different emission wavelengths could unlock opportunities to use cutting-edge ultrafast sources to process new and alternative materials — a trend that is commonly cited in market reports. These trends are active alongside enhanced capabilities in beam shaping, which, as mentioned, is ensuring improved accuracy and faster processing times for a range of demanding functions, such as precision cutting, drilling, micromachining, and ablation. In the automotive and semiconductor industries, for example, these high-precision tasks are necessary to ensure accurate microstructures. Pulse trains for materials processing The ability to produce fine features in materials such as ceramics, polymers, and glasses has enabled new applications in industries with critical requirements and regulations, such as the aerospace and medical fields. The versatility of current ultrafast laser technology also extends to modifying surface properties, functionalizing them and even enabling advanced 3D-printing techniques. This growing area of application stems from improvements that address the low speeds at which ultrafast lasers can process materials — a common limitation to the use of these lasers in industry. The first attempts to solve this bottleneck focused on using more powerful lasers to increase the ablation rate. These trials showed certain unwanted effects, such as shielding, saturation, and collateral damage stemming from the heat accumulation. Laser technology developers have explored the use of successions of laser pulses (bursts) in recent years to overcome these effects. The goal is to process the target material before the residual heat deposited by previous pulses diffuses from the processing region. This technique can reduce the laser pulse energies needed and increase the efficiency of the process without any thermal damage to the material. The company Lithium Lasers is active in this area — namely, with its FEMTOFLASH source, which uses gigahertz-burst technology. With average powers up to 20 W at 1030 nm and 6 W at 515 nm, this femtosecond laser offers burst energies of up to 1 mJ at 1030 nm and 0.3 mJ at 515 nm. Unlike conventional megahertz lasers, which deliver pulses at lower repetition rates and can generate excessive heat accumulation, FEMTOFLASH emits a sequence of finely controlled femtosecond pulses within a gigahertz burst (Figure 1). This ensures highly efficient energy deposition, where each pulse vaporizes the material before significant heat diffusion occurs. As a result, the gigahertz-burst technology minimizes thermal damage, enhancing ablation efficiency and allowing for precise control of the thermal load. Figure 1. Application advantages of gigahertz burst(s) versus megahertz burst(s): Unlike conventional megahertz lasers, which deliver pulses at lower repetition rates and can lead to excessive heat accumulation, Lithium Lasers’ technology emits a sequence of femtosecond pulses within a gigahertz burst. The gigahertz-burst technology minimizes thermal damage and enhances ablation efficiency, while allowing for precise control over thermal load. Courtesy of Lithium Lasers. Lithium Lasers’ source also offers high flexibility in pulse control, with an adjustable number of pulses per burst (from 25 to >1000). Configurable burst repetition rates optimize processing speeds and thermal dynamics, as well as arbitrary energy distribution of the individual pulses within a burst. These combined qualities serve to further refine material interaction. This level of overall control and performance makes the source ideal for applications in semiconductor manufacturing, printed circuit board processing, and advanced micromachining of glass and metal materials (Figure 2). Figure 2. Lithium Lasers’ ultrafast technology, enabling an end user to realize holes in a glass material. Courtesy of Lithium Lasers. New wavelengths Ultrafast lasers emitting at different wavelengths in the IR have garnered significant interest in recent years due to their distinctive properties and use potential for advanced materials processing applications. These lasers provide necessary specifications to achieve highly precise and controlled material interactions. The 3-µm wavelength is particularly advantageous: It lies within an optimal absorption range for many materials, including polymers and glasses, and it also falls within the transparency range for most of the semiconductors. It therefore enables efficient cutting, drilling, and micromachining processes with minimal thermal damage and reduced heat-affected zones. Femtum, a Canadian developer and manufacturer of mid-infrared (MIR) pulsed fiber lasers, has attracted widespread interest for its exploration of uses for its ultrafast 3-µm pulsed fiber laser. Supercontinuum generation, femtochemistry, and silicon photonics are some of the applications that the company has evaluated with this source. But Femtum’s MIR lasers can also emit short nanosecond pulses, and the company recently presented a use case for the semiconductor industry, in which the MIR source enables a dry laser cleaning solution (Figure 3). This approach aims to establish an alternative to manual cleaning for eliminating the dust particles and organic residues of different sizes generated during the manufacture of microelectronic and/or optical circuits. Current cleaning methods, such as brushing or ultrasonic baths, may not always remove all residues, leading to quality assurance inspection rejections. Moreover, these manual processes increase the risk of wafer or die damage and result in efficiency losses. Femtum’s pulsed lasers, with emission at 2.8 µm, enable selective removal of organic residues while ensuring preservation of the substrate. Figure 3. Dry laser cleaning, a critical application for the semiconductor industry, shown via a laser emitting at 2.8 µm (left). An example of selective residue removal in a grating coupler before cleaning (far left), compared with after the cleaning. Courtesy of Femtum. Further, the possibility to integrate the solution into existing assembly and test machines allows for the reduction of both manipulation and part handling to minimize rejections at mid- and late-stage production stages. RayVen Laser, a Ruhr University Bochum spinout, is also active in the development of ultrafast lasers with new IR wavelengths. The company has detected a gap of sources between 1 and 3 µm for advanced materials processing. To bridge it, RayVen developed high-power ultrafast laser systems with emissions at 2 μm. In this region of the spectrum, the energy of the laser is efficiently absorbed and less affected by scattering in certain materials. RayVen’s lasers provide high repetition rates, high energy, and exceptional stability in two main configurations: the model RayVen-S, tailored for 1-W average power at a 50 to 70 MHz repetition rate, with 120-fs pulse durations across wavelengths from 2090 to 2120 nm; and the model RayVen-L, which is tailored for high-energy tasks. The RayVen-L delivers 10 W of average power and up to 1 mJ of pulse energy with 800-fs pulse durations. With its technology, RayVen aims to support the next-generation of semiconductor processing, including silicon modification, defect-free structuring, and laser-assisted bonding and debonding. Each of these process steps can be essential to the development of AI accelerators and photonic chips. Reflective beam shaping Ultrafast laser beam shaping refers to the process of manipulating the spatial and/or temporal properties of an ultrafast laser beam to achieve a desired intensity distribution or focus pattern. This is particularly important in materials processing applications, where it is apt to influence precision and control over the laser’s interaction with materials. Beam shaping, in any context, is an excellent solution to meet industry’s high demands in damage resistance, efficiency, and long-term stability. In laser processes using ultraviolet and deep-ultraviolet wavelengths, beam-shaping considerations often hold the key to tighter feature sizes. Midel Photonics developed an innovative beam-shaping technology for ultrafast ultraviolet to IR lasers. The company specializes in customized, ultra-precise optics for reflective beam shaping, a technique to modify the spatial profile and characteristics of the beam using reflective optical elements rather than transmissive ones, such as lenses (Figure 4). This approach is especially advantageous in applications in which it is crucial to maintain beam quality, minimize losses, and achieve specific geometries. Figure 4. Midel Photonics’ reflective beam-shaping technology for ultrafast lasers offers a potential solution for processes in semiconductor manufacturing, high-speed lithography, and precision cutting and/or welding. Ultrashort-pulse integrity across all wavelengths is enabled by dispersion-free beam control, without chromatic dispersion and nonlinear effects. Courtesy of Midel Photonics. Custom beam profiles for multiple distinct laser processes can be obtained using Midel Photonics’ technology, and the tailoring of energy distribution could offer a potential solution for processes in semiconductor manufacturing, high-speed lithography, and precision cutting and/or welding. Midel Photonics’ components also exhibit strong damage thresholds and outperform transmissive optics, especially in ultraviolet/deep-ultraviolet applications. The company’s use of high-reflectivity coatings makes it possible for the solution components to withstand extreme intensities. Additionally, Midel’s approach can ensure dispersion-free beam control, with no chromatic dispersion or nonlinear effects. This quality is crucial to ensure ultrashort-pulse integrity across all wavelengths. Understanding ultrafast dynamics Apart from materials processing, research is another important field of growth for ultrafast lasers. One critical topic for researchers is understanding how materials respond to short laser pulses. Such understanding is paramount to improving future solutions and systems and the outcomes that they enable. Research on ultrafast dynamics in materials has evolved rapidly in the last 5 to 10 years, characterized by breakthroughs in materials science, quantum technologies, and other disciplines. Generally, the goal of these research efforts is to study processes that occur on extremely short timescales. These processes offer insight into controlling the fundamental behavior of electrons, atoms, and molecules, and how the investigated material(s) absorbs, transmits, or heats with these ultrafast pulses. In photonics R&D, laser-based pump-probe experiments via attosecond magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) detection has emerged as an interesting example of this type of research. These experiments have established this method as a cutting-edge approach to studying ultrafast dynamics in materials, particularly those involving magnetic properties and spin interactions. This method combines the power of attosecond pulses with the sensitivity of MCD, which enables the study of magnetization and spin dynamics on ultrafast timescales. Applied research in this area has extended to industry. To add spin sensitivity to the conventional laser-based pump-probe experiments, the German company UltraFast Innovations has developed the AURORA XUV phase retarder. This solution is geared to be joined with ultrafast high-harmonic extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) sources, and will function as a quarter waveplate to turn linearly polarized EUV light into circularly polarized light without introducing noticeable dispersion. The phase retarder achieves close-to-circular polarization of Pc = 0.75 and obtains >25% transmission around 66-eV photon energy, where the Ni M2/M3 edge is located. A broad spectral range from 40 to 85 eV is supported to cover the M2/M3 edge of the transition metals iron, cobalt, and nickel. The retarder uses a transmission-optimized, four-mirror grazing incidence reflection geometry that induces a quarter wave phase offset between the s- and p-polarization components of a linearly polarized input EUV beam. A clear aperture of 3 mm allows the low divergent EUV light to pass through without clipping. These characteristics make the solution an ideal component for attosecond applications. Reference 1. A. Žemaitis et al. (2025). The ultrafast burst laser ablation of metals: speed and quality come together. Opt Laser Technol, Vol. 180, 111458.
