On October 30, the Launch Ceremony of the Anhui Joint Project of the National Key R&D Program’s Disruptive Technology Innovation Key Special Project and the Disruptive Innovation Project Roadshow were held in Hefei.At the launch ceremony, three companies, including Astra Optics Limited, were awarded plaques as part of the first batch of approved projects under the Anhui Joint Project of the Disruptive Technology Innovation Key Special Project.
01 First-Time Support from a National Special Project
The National Key R&D Program is a vital component of China’s national science and technology program system. It focuses on tackling key core technologies that are crucial to industrial competitiveness, overall independent innovation capacity, and national security, aiming to solve a number of “bottleneck” problems from the source. It is a core vehicle for implementing China’s innovation-driven development strategy.The Disruptive Technology Innovation Key Special Project is a highly distinctive exploratory cultivation program under the National Key R&D Program. Through a full-gradient layout of “Exploration–Frontier–Engineering–Industry,” it covers core hard-tech fields such as integrated circuits, scientific instruments, and advanced manufacturing, cultivating “new species” of disruptive technologies throughout the entire process, from very early-stage principle verification to industrial implementation.
Witnessing the Moment — Astra Optics Limited was awarded the plaque for the first batch of approved projects under the National Key R&D Program’s Disruptive Technology Innovation Key Special Project.
The awarding of the first batch of approved projects under the Anhui Joint Project of the Disruptive Technology Innovation Key Special Project is a full affirmation of Astra Optics Limited’s innovation capability and technical strength in the field of two-photon lithography. It also provides support for the company to further deepen its work in high-speed two-photon lithography technology and expand industrial applications in micro/nano optics.
02 Focusing on Disruptive Innovation to Break Through the Boundaries of Advanced Manufacturing
With the rapid development of fields such as optical computing chips, optical communications, micro/nano optics, and advanced packaging, there is an increasingly urgent market demand for the fabrication of sub-100-nanometer complex 3D optical structures.Traditional processing technologies for complex 3D structures remain limited by low efficiency and cumbersome processes.Astra Optics Limited focuses on the technical bottlenecks of two-photon lithography, adopting femtosecond laser spatiotemporal focusing technology to directly upgrade traditional “point-by-point serial processing” to “parallel exposure,” enabling complex 3D micro/nano structures to truly achieve efficient fabrication.What is being challenged is not only processing speed, but also a paradigm innovation in two-photon 3D printing.This project will take the lead in conducting technical validation of an ultra-high-speed two-photon lithography system and implement applications in frontier fields such as optical computing, advanced packaging, and micro/nano optics.
Conclusion
This is the first time Astra Optics Limited has received support from a national-level project, marking a key milestone in the company’s development journey.
In the future, Astra Optics Limited will take this opportunity to continue refining its core equipment and process technologies, pushing frontier technologies toward the manufacturing of high-end micro/nano optical devices and achieving independent controllability of high-end micro/nano manufacturing equipment.
