Our major supplier, Coherent, has established industry standards in the manufacture of ultrafast scientific lasers to ensure that the lasers are more operational, running 24/7 and measuring more data and therefore more of the users' own scientific publications. Coherent uses a unique combination of three key ingredients to design, build and deliver scientific lasers with industry-leading performance and reliability.
HALT / HASS program
Coherent has pioneered the use of rigorous HALT / HASS procedures in the laser industry. Originally developed for NASA's space program, many industries use this proven screening and testing approach to verify product reliability.
Industry knowledge
Coherent is a leader in lasers for industrial applications ranging from semiconductor manufacturing in cleanroom environments to "dirty" oil and gas exploration. It applies decades of industrial laser experience to cutting-edge scientific lasers.
Vertical integration
Coherent is the most vertically integrated laser company in the world. It manufactures all critical active and passive components in-house: from complex negative dispersion mirrors to custom laser diode wafers. They only use materials that they have verified in their own laboratories. The result is full quality control of all components used at every stage of laser production.
What is the HALT / HASS program?
It is a new process in the development and production of lasers. The so-called HALT process (Highly Accelerated Life Testing process) has been applied to the development of lasers, which in practice means that the design, as well as the development of prototypes, involves rigorous testing, where the laser is deliberately tested under extreme conditions until damage occurs. This leads to "catching flies" and optimizing the entire system during development. For example, the shutter of the laser was tested continuously in a high repetition cycle until it was damaged, then critical parts that did not last were examined and as a result the design was modified and its lifetime is now at least 10 million cycles. Thanks to the findings of the testing, the cooling water circuit can continue to operate at 3 times the water pressure it is used at. The new approach to laser design also results in no need for any adjustment of the optics inside the lasers.
All lasers then undergo the so-called HAAS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screening) process in production, which is a very demanding stress test as part of the output inspection. During this test, the laser is, for example, rapidly cooled and then warmed up in the range of several tens of °C. It is also subjected to strong mechanical vibrations and shocks in the range of several g for several hours. Customers are only sent lasers that have undergone such testing and meet all specifications after the actual test. The end result is industrial reliability transferred to research applications. This testing as well as production demonstrations can be seen on the video link.
