European Union--Initiated on September 1, 2012 with a three-year project duration, the European Commission (EC) 7th Framework Programme FP7-2012-NMP-ICT-FoF or Brilliant Industrial Diode Laser (BRIDLE) project (http://www.bridle.eu) brings together seven European industrial and academic partners (DILAS Diodenlaser, Fraunhofer ILT, Modulight, Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, University of Nottingham, CNRS, and Bystronic Laser) that seek to develop an affordable direct diode laser source for industrial materials processing applications.
By using advanced high-power diode laser technologies and beam combination architectures (http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/print/volume-48/issue-06/features/beam-combining-cranks-up-the-power.html), dramatic improvements in performance, cost, manufacturability and future scalability will be achieved. During the project, these technologies will be integrated into a sequence of increasingly high-brilliance demonstrators, each targeting specific industrial applications, leading up to an affordable diode laser source with an output power of > 2 kW from a 100 micron optical fiber and efficiency > 40%, which will target industrial applications requiring the cutting and welding of sheet metal.
BRIDLE's approach is modular, scalable and forward compatible. It begins with high brilliance mini-bars with 2-3X higher brilliance (approximately 7 W @ 0.8-1.5 mm mrad) than the best broad-area emitters (approximately 7 W @ 2.7 mm mrad). Spectral beam combining allows a further increase of the total brilliance by 30-40X. Advanced coherent beam combining techniques are also being pursued to develop phase-coupled mini-bars with a nearly diffraction limited output to facilitate further significant improvements in both spatial and spectral brilliance.
BRIDLE's approach is chosen to be compatible with manufacturability and cost scaling requirements. State-of-the-art simulation tools are being used to optimize designs for laser bars and systems. The cost and complexity of the optical system are reduced by integrating optics inside the mini-bars. Efficient, extremely low vertical divergence structures will lead to low-cost, smile-insensitive assembly and low-loss optical coupling. The chosen packaging and beam combining techniques will allow simple fabrication and good thermal management.
SOURCE: BRIDLE project; http://www.bridle.eu
