At the ELI Beamlines facility, multiple liquid jet systems are utilized. High intensity laser experiments with secondary sources of X-rays and particles require renewing thin sheet material targets – for these applications colliding jet systems are being optimized.
Meanwhile, lower intensity pump-probe instruments also benefit from the use of flat liquid jet systems for sample delivery, in particular to overcome degraded sample deposition on liquid cell windows caused by the strong optical pumping pulses.
The research and development of nozzles of various liquid jet generation techniques recently started to benefit from the availability of high-resolution 3D printing methods using masked stereolithography (SLA) techniques using organic photo-polymerizing resins.
Commercially, printers based on the masked SLA (MSLA) are now widely affordable for the general public, yet deliver capabilities of printing resolution down to 20-30 microns. Although the material of the prints is not optimal for many applications, the capability for short prototyping cycles (measured in single hours) makes it a very handy tool in the hands of a researcher involved in solving challenges with liquid sample or liquid target delivery. In this activity, participants are going to go through the basics of designing, slicing, printing, cleaning and testing of prototypes of liquid sheet jet nozzles that are based on sheet formation by colliding liquid jets using commercial LCD SLA printers.
