On January 8th, the 2017 National Science and Technology Award Conference was held in Beijing by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. The project named “The volume production technology and application of large-size high performance Nd³⁺ doped phosphate laser glass”completed by professor Hu Lili’s group from SIOM, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), won the second prize of National Technology Invention Award. 

    The project team focuses on key technologies of volume production of large-size neodymium laser glass. Within more than one decade of continuous work, starting from basic research, the researchers devoted themselves to four core technologies, including continuous glass melting, precision annealing, wrapping and testing. Their pioneering job had achieved three technology inventions and built China's first continuous melting line of large-size laser neodymium glass with its volume production and broke the blockade by foreign technologies.

    The large-size N31 laser neodymium glass in volume production has been successfully utilized in China's "Shenguang" series of laser systems and has played an important role in the Ultra-Intense and Ultrashort Pulse Laser Facility (SULF) in Shanghai . Its application has also been extended to various scientific researches and industrial manufactures.

    The 2017 National Science and Technology Award Committee selected 271 projects and 9 scientific specialists. Among them, there are 66 prizes for National Technology Invention Award. The project of “The volume production technology and application of large-size high performance Nd³⁺ doped phosphate laser glass” ranked first in initial group review and re-assessment.