This course will offer an introduction to laser micro-manufacturing, including laser-cutting and ablation processes, additive/transformative manufacturing and laser-material treatments.

Course objectives

Over the last decades, and thanks to recent progress in short-pulse lasers, laser processes are becoming ubiquitous in micro-scale manufacturing. The course objective will be to give an introduction to the use of lasers in various fields of micro-manufacturing, including cutting, ablation and additive/transformative processes. At the end of the course, participants will have 1/ learned what micromanufacturing operations can be done with lasers, 2/ acquired the knowledge to select an appropriate laser for their applications, and 3/ developed a basic knowledge for implementing a laser micro-manufacturing process.

Target group

This course is targetet to

- Companies interested in implemented laser processes, R&D services, technology monitoring.

- Executives involved in technological developments and implementation, manufacturing and production engineers, R&D staff.

Engineer level is required. Some background in manufacturing, optics, engineering physics or materials science is a plus, but not mandatory.

Content

- Introduction: overview of today’s applications of lasers in the field of micro-manufacturing

- Key theoretical notions related to laser-matter introduction (from the viewpoint of engineering)

- The various types of laser-matter interaction modalities (continuous, pulsed, short/long wavelength, etc.)

- Technological implementation of laser processes

- Emerging applications

- Wrap-up & summary

Language

The course is held in English.

Registration deadline

October 14, 2025

Cancellation conditions

If you cancel up to two weeks before the date of the event, you will still owe 50% of the participation fee; after that or in the event of non-attendance, you will still owethe full amount (100%). A substitute can be named at any time.

Course instructor

Dr Yves Bellouard is Associate Professor in Microengineering at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, where he heads the Galatea lab and the Richemont Chair in Multi-Scale Manufacturing Technologies. Before joining EPFL in 2015, he was Associate Professor at Eindhoven University of Technologies (TU/e) in the Netherlands and prior to that, Research Scientist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York for four years.

His current research interests are in advanced manufacturing in general and more specifically, on laser-based processes and methods to tailor material properties.