"Optics will become the core of future technology, and photonics technology is a great opportunity for China to overtake on a curve in science and technology."

This judgment made by Mi Lei, associate researcher at the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and founding partner of Zhongke Innovation Star, is becoming a reality. In the new office park of Zhongke Innovation Star, there is a high-tech company that has emerged from the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is committed to becoming a pioneer in domestic high-end photonic manufacturing equipment.

**The "Four Great Inventions" of the 20th Century**

The history of human society's development can be said to be a process of creating and using tools, and with the application of new materials, manufacturing processes have also undergone changes.

With the rise of some high-tech materials, traditional processing methods such as carpentry and welding can no longer meet the needs of scientific and industrial development. Therefore, photonics manufacturing, known as one of the "four great inventions" of the 20th century, has emerged. It represents the new height of human use of tools to transform the world. Statistics show that in the United States and Germany, photonics manufacturing accounts for 60-70% of the entire advanced manufacturing industry.

Photonics manufacturing includes laser manufacturing, lithography technology, atomic manufacturing, etc., and can span multiple scales such as millimeters, micrometers, and nanometers, with huge application value. Among them, ultrafast laser manufacturing has become an important direction in photonics manufacturing due to its unique processing advantages.

"The duration of action of ultrafast laser is particularly short, between 10^-12 and 10^-15 seconds, even shorter than the time of heat conduction. Therefore, it can process materials before heat arrives. Theoretically, no heat is generated during processing, which is why it is called 'cold processing'," said Yang Xiaojun, chairman and general manager of Zhongke Weijing and former director of the Photonics Manufacturing Center of the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "At the same time, ultrafast laser has extremely high peak power, which can directly ionize materials and break their molecular bonds."

With its wide material applicability, ultra-high processing accuracy, and no thermal effect, ultrafast laser can solve processing bottlenecks that traditional methods cannot achieve, such as ultra-fine, damage-free, and material-selective processing. It is an important supporting technology for strategic emerging industries such as large aircraft, new-generation information technology, and automobiles in the country and a key means to promote the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry.

At present, many developed countries have adopted it as a national strategy to re-industrialize and revitalize their economies and have basically completed the replacement of traditional processes with ultrafast laser technology. However, they strictly embargo the related equipment to China.

**If You Don't Have "Guns" or "Cannons," Make Your Own**

Technologies that cannot be bought can only be developed independently. As one of the five major optical and mechanical institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has focused on the major strategic needs of the country and taken the lead in conducting research on photonics manufacturing technology. It has made important progress and outstanding achievements in core components and equipment integration and has embarked on a path of industrialization under the guidance of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' reform of the system and mechanism for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.

In 2014, the institute developed a five-axis femtosecond laser micro-hole processing engineering prototype suitable for small parts such as aero-engine blades and a six-axis picosecond laser cluster hole processing engineering prototype suitable for large parts such as engine combustion chambers, targeting the precision processing industry challenges of aero-engine blades and combustion chamber film cooling holes. These prototypes were successfully validated at a host plant of Aero-Engine Corporation of China. Based on the previous achievements, in March 2015, the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences established an industrialization company, Xi'an Zhongke Weijing Photonics Manufacturing Technology Co., Ltd., which is committed to the industrialization of high-end laser manufacturing equipment.

In 2016, the Chinese Academy of Sciences established the Hongguang Special Project to promote the rapid transformation of major scientific and technological achievements of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The young Zhongke Weijing welcomed the opportunity for accelerated development. The "Extreme Fine Manufacturing Equipment for Aero-Engines and Spacecraft" project, jointly led by it and the institute, was successfully selected as a Hongguang Special Project in 2017.

The project targets the efficient and ultra-fine manufacturing requirements of the new generation of blades in the aerospace field and the manufacturing bottlenecks that need to be solved. It has developed a series of femtosecond laser high-end precision manufacturing equipment ranging from three to seven axes. It has built five pilot production lines for core components and series of equipment and successfully promoted their application in more than 70 units, including Aero-Engine Corporation of China and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation. It has solved the "neck-bottleneck" problem of precision manufacturing of complex microstructures of three-dimensional components in engine development and has propelled the independent research and development process of China's engines.

"At the same time, we have also relied on the Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory to build the first domestic demonstration line for the photonic automated processing of turbine blade cooling holes, realizing adaptive (intelligent) femtosecond laser extreme manufacturing. We are accelerating the expansion of this technology and equipment to the civilian field and providing comprehensive solutions for the ultra-fine cold processing of complex components in the fields of aviation, aerospace, and electronics," said Yang Xiaojun.

In the Hongguang Special Project, the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences focuses on breaking through engineering technology, while Zhongke Weijing concentrates on the development and production of femtosecond laser high-end equipment. Currently, Zhongke Weijing has become a pioneer in domestic high-end photonic manufacturing equipment, achieving nearly 100% revenue growth for five consecutive years and has launched plans for listing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.

**Double Insurance with Support from the Institute**

Entrepreneurship is a high-risk venture, so why has Zhongke Weijing been able to grow rapidly in just a few years? In Yang Xiaojun's view, in addition to having real "hard technology," the support and help from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the institute are also very important.

"The management model of the Hongguang Special Project is different from traditional scientific research projects," said Qin Chenghu, deputy director of the High Technology Division of the Bureau of Science and Technology for Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In order to help researchers transform their achievements, they, as government officials, have become "project managers" to provide full-process tracking services for entrepreneurs. They guide the project undertakers to effectively integrate government, market, and capital and other social resources in accordance with the overall requirements of "goal-oriented and market-oriented" to ensure the project's accelerated major output.

So far, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has selected four batches of 27 projects for the Hongguang Special Project, with a total project fund of 511 million yuan. Post-grant funds of 114.2 million yuan have been paid. Some projects have shown good growth momentum and economic benefits prospects, attracting high attention and recognition from local governments and enterprises in the industry where the projects are located, and playing a leading and exemplary role in industry development.

The Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has always adhered to the advanced concept of "demolishing walls and opening the institute" for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and the innovative ecosystem of "research institutions + angel funds + incubators + innovation training" to maximize the release of researchers' innovation and entrepreneurship vitality.

Take Zhongke Weijing as an example. As the proprietary technology of the Photonics Manufacturing Center of the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the first step in transforming achievements is to solve the problems of "people" and "money." The institute allowed nearly 10 people from Yang Xiaojun's team to "double cross" and start a business. They retained their positions and labor relations in the institute while serving as the core backbone of the company, eliminating their worries about starting a business. At the same time, the West Science Angel Fund invested 5 million yuan in seed funding, avoiding Zhongke Weijing from falling into the "valley of death" in entrepreneurship.

"The institute is a public institution, and decision-making has certain procedures, but a startup company needs a very quick decision-making model. Therefore, we have achieved de-administration through mechanisms such as holding shares but not controlling and exiting at the right time, while ensuring a certain cash flow back, which can be used to cultivate more 'seedlings'," said Xie Xiaoping, deputy director of the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "As a national research institution, profit is not the goal, but cultivating a 'nursery' for national development is one of our important missions."

In such a nursery full of "sunshine" and "rain," more and more Zhongke Weijings will emerge like bamboo shoots after a spring rain,

Original link:http://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2020/11/448199.shtm