New viewport design compatible with high vacuum

Summary

A Spanish research centre specialized in ultra-intense lasers, in collaboration with a synchrotron light source specialised centre, have developed a new design of viewport compatible with high vacuum and are looking for collaboration under license, technical or research agreement with any size company or academia of the optic or vacuum systems sectors.

Description

The Spanish centre is an installation specialized in ultra-intense lasers, it has a laser system capable to reach one petawatt of peak power; the other infrastructure involved in this technology is a third generation synchrotron light, a complex of electron accelerators to produce synchrotron light, which allows the visualization of the atomic structure of matter as well as the study of its properties.
A window transparent to visible light and lasers is required for beam transport or other needs in some vacuum systems, and the Spanish centres have developed a new design of viewport compatible with high vacuum to solve this need.
The system has been developed in two different nominal diameters, 126 mm and 400 mm, of free space that contains a BK7 glass with a suitable coating that does not disturb the beam. The glass is independent of the viewport structure and a mandatory requirement is to be replaceable. The BK7 coated glass used on 200TW compressor vacuum chamber is a circular piece of 160mm OD and 15mm thickness. The viewport is divided in four elements, two structural parts, two O-rings and the BK7 glass.

The collaborations sought are license and technical or research cooperation agreement with any size company or academia of the vacuum systems or optic sectors.

Advantages & innovations

The design of the viewport provides important improvements compared with the classic equipment in the laser field, meanly: - Includes a transparent window to visible light and lasers for beam transport or other needs. - The design is done in such a way that it does not introduce any local deformation or punctual stress which may deviate the optical properties. - Includes a friendly self-centering easy and repeatable way to assembly different glasses on the viewport reducing time and costs.

Stage of development

Prototype available for demonstration

Contact/ source: Enterprise Europe Network (europa.eu)