Mülheim-Kärlich, 9th of September 2024 – Laserline has acquired 70 percent of the shares of the US laser specialist WBC Photonics, headquartered in Boston. Through this strategic acquisition, the German diode laser manufacturer is expanding its solution portfolio to include blue laser systems with particularly very high beam qualities of better than 4 mm mrad. This positions Laserline as a full-service provider for diode lasers in the blue wavelength range and covers a broad product spectrum from systems with high focusability to power levels in the multi-kW range.
WBC Photonics was founded through a management buyout of the former Panasonic subsidiary TeraDiode and produces high-power diode lasers in the NIR and blue wavelength spectrum. The high beam quality of the laser systems is achieved through emitter-based wavelength beam combining. The acquisition opens up new target markets for Laserline. The high focusability is important for applications in the field of additive manufacturing, welding, or cutting for example.
“The acquisition of WBC Photonics is a significant step on our path toward becoming the world’s leading supplier of blue diode lasers. It enables us to offer even more powerful and versatile solutions in the field of blue industrial diode lasers to our customers – from exceptionally high beam qualities to unmatched high-power classes worldwide,” say Dr. Christoph Ullmann, Managing Director of Laserline.
“Our new partnership with Laserline enables access to markets worldwide for high brightness blue lasers” said Michael Deutsch, CEO of WBC Photonics. “Together, we will become the world leader in blue diode laser technology.”
| Blue diode lasers
Blue diode lasers are now considered a key technology in electronics production, as they open up a wide range of new options for processing conductor materials in the non-ferrous metal sector. Light in the blue wavelength spectrum of 445 nm is absorbed five times better by copper and copper alloys than infrared radiation. Far less energy is therefore required to melt component surfaces than when using conventional infrared lasers. The first blue diode lasers therefore enabled controlled heat conduction welding of the highly conductive non-ferrous metals copper and gold for the first time. Since then, even the thinnest copper components can be joined without artificial material reinforcement.
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