News - National Centre for Laser Applications

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Recent NEWS

May 2013 NCLA PhD Student is winner of Poster Prize at EMRS 2013 Conference. This year, the NCLA was represented by Dr. Gerard O'Connor and five of his PhD students at the conference, who all presented posters. Leah Kidney, a PhD student at the National Centre for Laser Applications, was the winner of a Poster Prize at the Spring Meeting at EMRS 2013 conference in Strasbourg. Leah presented her work on the laser modification of polymers. Leah's research is funded by an IRCSET embark fellowship in partnership with Creganna Tactx.
July 2012 NCLA hosts EU FP7 project 'Echo2Eco' An Echo2Eco project consortium meeting was hosted at the NCLA on July 23th and 24th, 2012 in which the 5 SME partners and 3 RTD partners participated. The meeting for the FP7 Research for SMEs project entitled - A novel sound absorption technology to enable energy efficient construction techniques and promote the health and wellbeing of occupants (ECHO2ECO), included the demonstration of laser cutting techniques for material systems developed for the project. This project is supported under the EU Capacities Research for SMEs programme.
June 2012 NCLA PhD Student is winner of Poster Prize at EMRS 2012 Conference. Cormac McDonnell, a PhD student at the National Centre for Laser Applications, was the winner of the Poster Prize at the Spring Meeting at EMRS 2012 conference in Strasbourg. Cormac presented his work on the effect of spot size and numerical aperture on the single pulse ablation threshold of a transparent conductive thin film. Cormac's research is funded by an IRCSET embark fellowship alongside the EU funded Laser-Connect Programme.
March 2012 NCLA commences EU FP7 project 'Echo2Eco' The National Centre for Laser Applications (NCLA) has recently commenced an EU FP7 Research for SMEs project entitled - A novel sound absorption technology to enable energy efficient construction techniques and promote the health and wellbeing of occupants (ECHO2ECO). The NCLA part of the project wiill investigate the use of laser technology to process polymer sheet material with enhanced acoustic suppression performance. The project consortium comprises 8 partners from around Europe including Norway, UK, and Germany. This project is supported under the EU Capacities Research for SMEs programme.
February 2012 NCLA project collaboration with AmaTech Ltd wins category award in 'Irish Times' InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards Amatech won organisational systems and process innovation category for its new laser technology used in the production process of electronic payment cards. This project is a collaboration with the NCLA being conducted under the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnership Programme. See 'Irish Times' article and awards page.
October 2011 NCLA commences project with Teleflex Medical The NCLA has commenced a collaborative research project with Teleflex Medical (Athlone & Reading, USA) in relation to the development of novel techniques for enhancing the performance of catheter based medical devices. This project is supported under the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnership programme.
June 2011 NCLA Postgraduate student is winner of the EMRS Graduate Student Award Natalie Haustrup, a PhD student, at the National Centre for Laser Applications (NCLA) was the winner of the Graduate Student Award for the paper submitted to the 2011 E-MRS Spring Meeting. Natalie presented her work on nanoparticle generation during laser ablation of thin metal films to the Symposium entitled Size-dependent Properties of Nano-Materials. An accompanying journal article was also submitted to the Journal of Nanoscience and Nanomaterials. Natalie’s PhD research is funded by an IRCSET embark fellowship and is supervised by Dr. Gerard O’Connor in the School of Physics.

March 2011 Successful completion of collaborative project with Abbott Vascular An NCLA project team has recently completed the successul demonstation of a working prototype for the in-process inspection of laser welded catheters joints at the Abbott Vascular manufacturing facility in Clonmel. Discussions are ongoing on potential licensing opportunities. Outputs from this project are also to be presented at the Laser in Manufacturing (LiM) 2011 conference in Munich. This project was supported under the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnership programme.
February 2011 NCLA Postgraduate student is a winner of Poster competition at Nanoweek 2011 Natalie Haustrup, a PhD student, at the National Centre for Laser Applications (NCLA) was a winner of the student poster competition at the recent Nanoweek 2011 Conference, organised by Inspire and the Competence Centre in Nanotechnology. Natalie’s poster described laser generation of nanoparticles using the novel laser induced liquefaction process. Natalie’s PhD research is funded by an IRCSET embark fellowship and is supervised by Dr. Gerard O’Connor in the School of Physics. She was presented with her prize by Dr Denis Doyle, Director of Wafer Fab Engineering, Analog Devices Inc. in Carton House, Co. Kildare.
November 2010 NCLA secondment at M-Solv UK NCLA researchers have completed the first secondment at M-Solv UK in November 2010. This period focussed on project definition and review of M-Solv activities. From left to right: Dr. David Milne (Strategic Technologist, M-Solv UK), Cormac McDonnell (PhD student, NCLA), Dr. James Pedder (Strategic Technology, M-Solv UK), Dr. Adam Brunton (Strategic Technologist, M-Solv UK), Dr. Phil Rumsby (CEO, M-Solv UK), Alan Conneely (Centre Manager, NCLA) For more details see the Laser-Connect project website.
February 2011 Schools Outreach as part of Nanoweek As part of Nanoweek 2011 the NCLA-LightHOUSE research group in the School of Physics presented a live demonstration of nanotechnology in action at two local schools: St. Rapheal’s College, Loughrea and Coláiste na Coiribe, Galway. Demonstrations included high-speed imaging of the interactions of water with nanocoated surfaces and molecular models of Buckyballs & carbon nanotubes.