Jan 26 2009
Bookham, Inc. (Nasdaq: BKHM), a provider of optical components for industrial applications, has achieved an output power of 200W with a 10mm laser diode bar - believed to be the industry's most powerful commercially available continuous wave (CW) single bar product. The new 200W bar - representing a 60 percent power increase on the previous Bookham offering with the same footprint - is designed to enable manufacturers of direct diode laser systems to compete with fiber lasers and CO2 lasers in multi-kilowatt material processing applications.
The bar provides CW and hard pulse operation at a rated power of 200W and is designed on a micro-channel single-sided cooling configuration to allow low pitch of the stack. The new high power bar meets the need of direct diode and solid state laser system manufacturers for increased power with discrete piece parts and reduced complexity of optics. In line with scaling the power output to 200W, the efficiency of the device has been scaled to reduce heat dissipation, resulting in a wall plug efficiency of 65 percent. The bar is available in wavelengths from 915nm to 980nm and will be on show at the Bookham booth (#1515) at Photonics West 2009.
"Bringing to market a diode bar capable of delivering 200W with such a small form factor is a major achievement, and one that sees Bookham continue to innovate and to lead the way in high power components," said Gunnar Stolze, Director High Power Laser Marketing and Sales at Bookham. "CO2 laser systems have dominated the materials processing market in the 5kW to 20kW range for applications such as metal cutting and welding; this high power, high brightness bar - a truly disruptive technology - will open up that significant market to the direct diode manufacturers."
Like all Bookham High Power Laser Products, the front facet of the bar is protected against Catastrophic Optical Damage by the Bookham proprietary E2 mirror passivation process. Telecom grade AuSn (gold tin) hard solder makes the product suitable for demanding industrial and defense applications in CW and hard pulse operation mode.
At associated symposium LASE 2009, Bookham will be presenting two technical papers: 'Improved brightness on broad-area single emitter (BASE) modules', and 'Power scaling of bars toward 80mW per 1um stripe width reliable output power '.