More Brilliance from High Power Laser Diodes

摘要

The introduction of high power diode laser systems in industry has boosted the interest in these devices for a wide range of applications. Besides printing and soldering, cutting and deep penetration welding are becoming more important. An overview about the developments, an update on today's high power laser activities and an outlook will be given, what characteristics laser bars will have to fulfil in the near future. For higher brightness, laser bars with lower fill factors, monolithic integrated laser junctions and tapered laser designs were investigated. High power diode laser (HPDL) bars with 25% - 50% fill factor were operated between 40 W and 80 W and lifetimes up to 100 000 hours could be extrapolated. Tapered laser bars with 50W output power and high wall plug efficiencies were developed. Wavelength multiplexing and polarisation coupling were used in order to reach multi-kilo-Watt diode laser emission. Examples for applications will be given.