Opto-Mechatronical Components and Systems

Our extensive competences and special expertise

We offer outstanding expert knowledge in the following areas:

• Handling and cleansing of delicate components
• Adjustment with passive and active feedback and sub-micrometer accuracy
  
• Solderjet bumping as laser beam joining technology for stable connections
  
• Functional structure and optics bonding for special operating conditons, e.g. aerospace
  
• Automated assembly processes and individualized assembly facilities
  
• Faser-to-chip couplings with low attenuation
  
• CO₂ laser-based processes for glass fasers – stripping, cleaving, tapering and splicing
  
• System engineering for complex optics and quantum hardware
• Inkjet print of 3D optics and functional 2D structures

Laser adressing optics for quantum computer at Fraunhofer IOF

Laser addressing-optics allow the control, preparation, and readout of individual ions or atoms inside a trap. They can be designed for various wavelengths ranging from ultraviolet to infrared light, depending on the employed ion or atom, and desired operational process. Our units achieve focus waists of 1 µm at the trapped particle position and are designed for a crosstalk ratio of less than 10^-5 with particle distances <5 µm.

Miniature laser system for RAMAN experiment of ExoMars mission

A RAMAN spectrometer can be used to study the scattering of light by molecules, for example in the atmosphere or on solids such as rock samples. The heart of the spectrometer's highly miniaturized space-worthy laser source for the ExoMars mission is a diode-pumped solid-state laser with frequency doubling.

The green laser from Jena works at a wavelength of 532 nanometers and more than 100 milliwatt. Typical for space projects is the need for particularly small and lightweight components. To illustrate: The laser, including the casing, weighs just 50 grams - as much as half a bar of chocolate. The sensitive optical components are also designed to withstand large temperature fluctuations between -130 and +24 degrees Celsius and high radiation exposure in space as well as the strong vibrations during the rover’s take-off and landing. Conventional methods for assembling optical components are not suitable for such extreme conditions. Instead, all components of the sensitive laser resonator and the secondary optics were joined together using a laser-based soldering technique.

Double slit assembly for the FLEX mission of ESA

The "Fluorescence Imaging Spectrometer" (FLORIS) will be the centerpiece of ESA's "FLuorescence Explorer Mission" (FLEX). For the spectrometer, the IOF manufactured an assembly whose requirements were at the limits of what was technically possible. The high-precision double slit was realized with a slit width of exactly micrometers over a length of 44.15 millimeters. Both slits are assembled highly parallel to each other and possess a slit planarity of less than 10 micrometers. A roughness requirement of 0.3 nanometers rms (root mean square) was accomplished for the mirrors that are intended to guide the light onto the detector inside the spectrometer.

The double slit was manufactured on a silicon basis. A special lithographic process chain was developed at Fraunhofer IOF for production, in which lithographic structuring techniques were adapted for etching silicon wafers. Finally, the slits were given a black coating in order to achieve the specified optical reflectivity and optical density.

The device is designed so that the silicon double slit is mounted in a mechanical holder, which makes the assembly so robust that it can withstand the severe conditions at the launch of the FLEX satellite undamaged. A special assembly concept was developed from a combination of positive locking, clamping, and bonding, to realize this.

Markets and applications for opto-mechatronical components and systems

Our technologies and systems are applied in:

• Aerospace
• Automotive and medical technology
  
• Consumer electronics
  
• Quantum communiction, computing and imaging