Bookham launches 120-W laser CW diode bar
January 19, 2005, San Jose, CA--Bookham is expanding its portfolio of high-power laser diodes for the industrial market at Photonics West, where it will launch what it says is the world's most powerful commercially available continuous wave (CW) laser diode bar.
According to the company, the 9xxnm 120W CW multimode laser diode bar, developed at the Bookham facility in Zurich, Switzerland, offers a significant increase in power for pumping of solid-state disk and fiber lasers, as well as direct applications of the laser diode output. It is one of several new products that Bookham has added to its industrial laser portfolio since it entered the high power laser diode market in 2004. The updated product range includes 30% fill factor bars, passively-cooled copper mounts, horizontal linear bar arrays, high power multimode single emitters, multimode cable television (CaTV) pumps, 1070nm seed laser sources, and narrow-band grating stabilized pumps optimized for second harmonic generation (SHG).
Applications for these high power laser diodes include beside pumps for CaTV amplifiers and visible SHG lasers, the pumping of solid-state lasers such as Nd:YAG lasers, fiber lasers and disc lasers, as well as direct applications of the laser diode output. These powerful devices have applications in material processing, marking and printing, medical applications such as skin resurfacing and hair removal and military/aerospace applications ranging from laser warning and targeting to inter-satellite communications.
One of the core technologies that has driven the power and reliability achievements is Bookham's proprietary E2 process, which passivates the laser's front mirror. The aim of this passivation is to prevent catastrophic optical mirror damage (COMD), which is otherwise a common problem in the development of high brightness GaAs laser diodes. The E2 solution to the COMD issue enabled Zurich laser diodes to be used in the first commercial telecom link using 980-nm pumps, and later in submarine optical telecom links, where reliability requirements are ultra-demanding.
Also of importance is Bookham's experience in mounting laser diodes using gold-tin soldering. This "hard-soldering" technique allows laser diodes to be driven at higher powers and temperatures with much better reliability than "soft" solders, especially in 1-Hz type on-off applications. The gold-tin soldering is used in all of the Bookham mounted laser diode products.