Coherent’s 100-Watt diode bar can combine with others to produce kilowatt-class lasers
SAN JOSE, Calif.—Coherent Inc. in Santa Clara, Calif., is offering a 100-watt diode laser bar called Onyx that, combined with others, is capable of producing lasers in the kilowatt power range, company officials say.
The primary application for the diode laser bar is as a pump light source for use in solid state lasers for medical and industrial applications, Coherent officials say. The diode laser bar was introduced in January at the Photonics West trade show in San Jose, Calif.
The Onyx Micro Channel Cooled Package (MCCP) diode laser bar delivers 100 watts continuous wave of output power at 808 nanometers with a specified lifetime of more than 10,000 hours, with an electrical to optical conversion efficiency approaching 60 percent.
This water-cooled laser bar can be assembled into vertical stacks containing anywhere from 1 to 45 bars, with a pitch of 1.6 millimeters. This diode laser bar also can be part of compact horizontal arrays because each stack is 11 millimeters wide, and can be placed directly next to another stack with less than a 1 millimeter gap.
The high power density reduces system cost because relatively few bars are necessary to obtain a given output level, company officials say. The high efficiency translates into less waste heat, thus reducing cooling and power supply requirements.
The diode bar operates reliably in the hard pulsed mode often employed in solid-state laser systems. This superior reliability comes from advances in packaging techniques and epitaxial structure, together with the use of hard solder construction.
Other uses for this high power diode laser bar are as a direct source for various materials processing applications including cladding, welding, heat treating, and brazing.
For more information, visit Coherent online at www.coherent.com.
