A new 100μm aperture, 920nm laser diode chip was developed to improve fiber coupling efficiency and reliability. These chips have been assembled into single-emitter and multi-emitter packages with 105μm diameter fiber-coupled output. The single-emitter package is rated for 12W operation, while the multi-emitter package is rated at 140W. Power conversion efficiency is 50%. Over one year of accelerated active life testing has been completed along with a suite of passive, environmental qualification tests. These pumps have been integrated into 2kW, 4kW, and 6kW fiber laser engines that demonstrate excellent brightness, efficiency, and sheet metal cutting quality and speed.
KEYWORDS: Thermoelectric materials, Performance modeling, Sensors, Finite element methods, Semiconductor lasers, 3D modeling, Semiconductors, Manufacturing, Data modeling, High power lasers
High-power single-emitter semiconductor lasers may dissipate up to several Watts heat load during operation. The heat
may be generated from a narrow stripe, as low as a few microns in width by several millimeters in length.
Thermoelectric Coolers (TEC) are widely deployed to control the laser junction temperature in single-emitter
semiconductor-laser packages. TEC manufacturers supply performance curves under the assumption of uniform heat
load applied to the cold plate. In reality, the heat will spread laterally across the cold plate creating a temperature
gradient across the couples. Consequently, the actual performance of the TEC may be significantly degraded as
compared to that predicted from the manufacturer's guidelines. A quantitative analysis that includes these deviations is
necessary to properly size the TEC and optimize the package design. This paper provides a simple method for modeling
the TEC performance parameters on concentrated heat loads using commercially-available FEA software. Experimental
data of TEC cooled single-emitter laser packages will also be presented that corroborate the results of our model.
We present performance improvements of fiber-coupled pump modules and broad-area lasers at 8xx nm, 9xx nm and 14xx nm wavelengths. Broad-area lasers with a 200 μm aperture at 808 nm for direct diode applications emit 11W CW and 30W pulsed. Pump modules at 830 nm for printing applications show excellent linearity, power stability of 2% and 95% of the power within 0.12 NA into a 50 μm core fiber at 1W CW. Broad-area lasers at 880 nm for pumping applications emit 18W CW with a peak wallplug efficiency of 64%. An improved design of 9xx pump modules is demonstrated with built-in feedback-protection (>30 dB at 1060 nm) that allows safe operation in multi-kW peak-power fiber lasers. Up to 3W of optical power with slope efficiency and peak wallplug efficiency of 0.64 W/A and 46%, respectively, is presented for 14xx nm broad-area lasers with a 100 μm wide aperture.
We have developed a single-emitter multi-mode laser-diode-pump platform for high efficiency, brightness and high
reliability in a small form factor. This next-generation package is scalable to higher optical power and offers a low-cost
solution for industrial applications, such as fiber lasers, graphic arts and medical. The pump modules employ high
coupling efficiency, >90%, high power-conversion efficiency, >50%, and low thermal resistance, 2.2°C/W, in an
electrically-isolated package. Output powers as high as 18W have been demonstrated, with reliable operation at 10W
CW into 105μm core fiber. Qualification results are presented for 0.15NA and 0.22NA fiber designs.
Multi-mode pumps based on single emitter diodes deployed in distributed pump architectures offer significant advantages in thermal management and reliability for pumping high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers. In a distributed architecture, while individual diode failures do not directly generate failures of other diodes in the distributed ensemble, failures do cause the rest of the sources to drive to higher power levels to compensate for the loss of power. A model of the ensemble lifetime based on module failure rates and power-scaling factors demonstrates that the distributed pump architecture requires random failure rates corresponding to better than 200,000 h mean time between failure (MTBF) to meet typical application requirements. A high power multi-mode pump module suitable for commercial aplications is shown. Critical elements are based on telecom architectures, including the optical train and the fiber alignment. The module has a low thermal resistance of 4 C/W from the laser diode junction to the external heat sink, couplng efficiency of over 80% into 0.2 NA, and demonstrated reliable output power of over 5W CW with peak wavelengths near 915 nm. Telecom qualified modules have random failure rates corresponding to better than 1,000,000 h MTBF. Stability of the critical fiber alignment joint for single mode packages has been demonstrated at elevated temperatures (e.g. 85 C) for thousands of hours. The reliability of the commercial multi-mode package can be estimated by similarity to the telecom package, and is verified by testing of conditions considered to be at risk based on the differences between the known telecom, and the new commercial package, designs. Test results are shown for temperature cycling, CW operation, and damp heat. The relationships between anticipated MTBF requirements, test duration and test population are shown.
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