Martin Smrž, head of our Advanced Laser Development team, received the Visionaries 2021 award at the postponed ceremony on Thursday 5 May 2022 for the development of a pulsed laser for medical, industrial and space applications.
The jury of the Visionaries 2021 project, which has been held for the past eleven years under the auspices of the NGO Czechinno, particularly appreciated the technological, economic and social contribution of this laser to medicine and industry. The laser developed by the HiLASE Centre, FZU CAS, allows, for example, gentle removal of kidney stones without unnecessary damage to the surrounding tissues (lithotripsy). It also has its benefits in the field of environment and communication: it can analyse the presence of chemical substances in the environment, communicate with satellites or produce faster chips by XUV lithography.
The device was developed in collaboration with the Korean company Axel, which grew the Ho:YAG single crystals and prepared the polished disks and HR/AR layers for the main amplifier, and Profiber, which was involved in optimising the fibre parts and diagnosing the lasers in the mid-infrared field.
Tomáš Mocek, head of the HiLASE Centre, also received the Visionaries 2021 personality award on Thursday. A complete list of the winning projects can be found here, and more about the award-winning laser is available here.