Industry Workshops with a Practical Focus at Laser 2007

As an expert forum with a worldwide reputation, the “World of Photonics Congress” – which will be taking place from 17 – 22 June 2007 at the International Congress Centre, Munich (ICM) – is the meeting place of choice for international specialists from all application areas within the field of photonics. In particular the new “Industry Workshops” (19 – 21 June 2007) that Messe München is organizing for the first time will be concentrating on the practical use of lasers in accordance with the trade show’s “Light at Work” theme – thus building a bridge between research and application.

In nine seminar sessions, industry specialists will discuss the experience they have gained with the latest laser technologies and will be answering discussion questions in the plenum. Seminar participants will gain competent, first-hand practical knowledge that they can employ directly within their own companies. Additional topically oriented tours through LASER. World of Photonics will provide visitors the option of gaining information about the corresponding system solutions and making contact with suitable manufacturers. The Industry Workshops will be focusing on applications in production automation, quality assurance, and process optimization.

The expertise and industrial background that the people who will be chairing the workshops have to offer in the area of optical technologies will ensure highly informative lectures and quality dialog between the speakers and delegates. Among others, the following specialists will be chairing workshops: Dr. Christof Lehner and Dr. Alexander Knitsch from Trumpf Laser, Dr. Herbert Gross from Carl Zeiss, Dr. Ulrich Hefter from Rofin-Sinar, Dr. Tobias Damm from Coherent Lambda Physik, Axel Bauer from Fraunhofer ILT and Dr. Thomas Renner from Toptica Photonics.

The introductory seminar on June 19th, will provide an overview of the use of lasers in materials processing, the experience that companies have gained, and recently developed technologies that are still waiting to be used in practice. All other workshops will be targeting special areas: One seminar presents different laser sources and the possibilities for employing them in biophotonics and microscopy (Thursday, June 19th), another seminar in the afternoon of the following day will provide a basic understanding of micro material processing with lasers.

No less than three seminars will cover the topic of laser welding: Here, among other things, the focus will be on optimizing welding processes (June 19th, 2:30 p.m.), quality assurance in practice (“Successful Laser Welding – From Part Design to Process Monitoring,” June 20th, 10:30 a.m.) and an explanation of the way that remote welding works and the benefits that employing this technology offers over conventional welding (“Remote Welding,” June 20th, 2:30 p.m.).

Two sessions will be taking a detailed look at the manufacturing of ultra-modern medical devices with the aid of laser technologies (“Medical Device Manufacturing”) and at the significance of optical technologies for the production of solar-power systems and components (“Lasers for Manufacturing Photovoltaics”). These two areas of application represent two of the most important forces driving innovation in this industry.

The design of and special considerations for optical components that are made of plastic instead of glass will be the central theme in the workshop entitled “Plastic Optical Components.”

The Industry Workshops complete the program for the World of Photonics Congress, 18th International Congress on Photonics in Europe, which provides the framework for the leading trade conferences for laser technologies and applications. All the details on the World of Photonics Congress and the program for the individual events are available on the Internet at www.photonics-congress.com.