Advanced Multi-laser-beam Parallel Heating System for Rapid High Temperature Treatment

Rapid and high-throughput experimental methods are of great significance to the development of material genetic engineering technology. High temperature heat treatment is a necessary part for the preparation of inorganic non-metallic materials, while the rapid heat treatment technology of materials library needed for material genetic engineering is still blank. Here we report the multi-laser-beam parallel heating system which can be used in rapid high temperature treatment for samples arranged in an array of {AB}, named as materials library. We introduce the design principle, operation mode, structure details, and software of the multi-laser-beam parallel heating system. The facility presents many advantages of independent adjustment of laser heating time, power and spot size for each beam and high automation. The maximum laser power is above 100 W, and the maximum stable heating temperature is 2000 for each laser beam. As a typical application demonstration, a series of sintering experiments of Y 3 Al 5 O 12 :Ce (YAG:Ce) luminescent ceramics were carried out. Their heating temperature was 1400 , 1500 and 1600 , while their holding time was 180, 360 and 540 s, respectively. Above facility operated automatically according to the pre-set heating positions and heating curves. All results show that, using the multi-laser-beam parallel heating system, fully-sintered samples with good crystallinity and luminescence properties can be obtained within several minute heat treatment, while the conventional sintering technology needs more than 10 h. This study may provide a new technical solution for processing condition screening and high-throughput preparation of multi-samples in an energy and time saving mode.