Laser to engrave names onto individual threads of national flag for Lithuanian Olympic athletes

Vilnius, Lithuania--Altechna R&D is joining a unique public initiative in which its laser-based technology will be used to engrave a flag for Lithuanian Olympic athletes with the names of Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite and citizens supporting the athletes. The flag will be presented to the best Lithuanian athletes competing at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games (London, England; starting 6th of July).

The researchers at Light Conversion Ltd. (also in Vilnius) have created a single-unit integrated femtosecond laser that will be used for engraving names on the threads of the flags. Altechna R&D already uses this laser in the medical, semiconductor, fiber-optic, and other industries.

“We should be grateful to the Lithuanian laser industry for the possibility of creating a national personalized flag,” says Gintautas Šlekys, chairman of the board at Altechna R&D. He acknowledges that engraving names on a thread is a unique task for laser experts and engraving thousands of names is also a challenge.

“It resembles the task of moving a heap of sand to another place using only tweezers," says Šlekys. "The process requires great creativity, accuracy, and precision. You also need to know how the laser affects fabric."

For the process to go smoothly, experts at Altechna R&D will be using software they created and a special mechanism that positions the thread and holds it steady. It takes less than a minute to engrave a name once everything is set. However, if thousands of people join the project, it will take a couple of days to engrave all their names onto the flag's threads.