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Visotek chooses Bookham ’s high-power lasers for 350W pump block

At this week’s Photonics West 2008 exhibition in San Jose, Visotek Inc of Livonia, MI, USA, a provider of fiber-coupled high-power diode laser systems, special optics, and laser production services, launched its ‘Ultra-High Brightness’ single-emitter based pump block after selecting Bookham Inc of San Jose, CA, USA as laser diode supplier.

The fiber-coupled laser system delivers what is claimed to be an industry-leading output of 350W from a low fiber core diameter of 200 µm at a low of numerical aperture (NA) of 0.2 or 0.46, allowing use as a pump unit for next-generation fiber-laser systems as well as for direct applications.

The fiber-coupled laser system incorporates the latest generation of Bookham’s high-power single-emitter laser diodes (made using automated manufacturing processes at its facility in Zurich, Switzerland), which are capable of more than 10W operational light output power. The optical design of the pump block was developed by the US-based Fraunhofer Center for Laser Technology. The system eliminates beam-shaping optics, enabling high coupling efficiencies and compact dimensions at high power levels. Fiber-coupled power of 350W can be achieved at moderate output powers from the laser chip, which offers improved system lifetime.

“The innovative design of this product and the strength of the Bookham single-emitter technology enables us to deliver far greater power at improved efficiencies than any other product on the market,” claims Visotek’s CEO Andy Held. “We have made tremendous progress in optimizing our manufacturing process to offer our new Ultra-High Brightness pump block at high volumes with a low-cost profile.”

Bookham’s low-divergence, high-reliability single-emitter components, combined with its optomechanical design, can offer systems manufacturers a significant increase in fiber-coupled performance,” claims Berthold Schmidt, Bookham’s director of marketing for high power laser systems.

Visit: www.visotekinc.com

Laserline selects Bookham VHB bar for industrial direct diode systems

Laserline of Mülheim-Kärlich near Frankfurt, Germany, a manufacturer of diode laser systems for industrial material processing, has selected Bookham’s Very High Brightness (VHB) bar to support their high-brightness direct diode laser systems.

“Based on our experience of working with Bookham with 120W bars, we chose to work with the company again on this demanding product because of their fast innovation cycles and responsiveness,” said Laserline’s managing director and co-founder Volker Krause.

“The VHB bar, with its unique form factor, is the perfect match for our high-brightness direct diode systems as it features the Bookham hard-solder technology to support the typical intermittent operation mode we find in industrial and automotive applications,” added Krause.

Bookham’s announcement of volume shipments of the VHB bar comes just six months after its launch at June’s LASER 2007 event in Munich. The VHB bar, being shown for the first time in North America at Photonics West, has a power output of 80W – up to four times the brightness of a typical 10mm bar, Bookham claims – and measures just 3.2mm in width.  The device supports direct industrial laser systems and enables fiber coupling without beam transformation optics by delivering high output power in a narrow emitting area.  

“The key to the speed of this deployment is the way that we have worked in close cooperation with the customer, and designed a product that exactly meets the needs of this cutting edge systems manufacturer,” said Christian Naumer, senior product line manager at Bookham.

Visit: www.laserline-inc.com

Bookham expands high-power laser diode portfolio

At Photonics West, Bookham also debuted products from its rapidly expanding high-power laser diode portfolio, targeting high-growth industrial markets, including:

• 10W fiber-laser pump module with 105µm fiber core diameter operating at injection currents up to 12A;
• 1060nm seed laser module with short-distance fiber Bragg grating to control spectral properties for pulsed fiber lasers;
• low core-fiber-diameter multimode modules (with 40µm or 50µm fiber) delivering up to 2W at 830nm and up to 3W at 940nm, aimed at the computer-to-print (CTP) pre-press printing market.

“The number of applications that require reliable, high power and high brightness laser diodes is growing all the time, and we are continuing to drive investments and developments of next-generation products to meet the needs of our customers in these areas,” said Bookham’s director of product marketing, Berthold Schmidt.

*Bookham also presented three technical papers at the associated symposium LASE 2008: ‘Recent developments for BAR and BASE: setting the trends’, ‘Emission wavelength stabilization in broad area lasers coupled to fiber Bragg gratings’ and ‘Performance and reliability of pulsed 1060nm laser modules’.

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Bookham launches 40W and 60W 808nm laser diode bars

Search: Bookham VCSEL High-power laser diode bars

Visit: www.bookham.com