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Power Pack 630 fiber-coupled laser modules

At last week’s Photonics West 2008 event in San Jose, CA, USA, Intense Ltd of Glasgow, UK launched the Power Pack 630 visible CW high-power, fiber-coupled laser module, which delivers up to 2.5W of 630nm light from a 600µm fiber with 0.22 numerical aperture (NA) while operating at low current levels.

Picture: Power Pack 630 visible CW high-power, fiber-coupled laser module.

The Power Pack is designed for medical and display applications such as photodynamic therapy, medical imaging, illumination, and entertainment. “Medical and display system developers are focused on smaller size, higher brightness, and lower operating power requirements,” says Chris Baker, VP sales & marketing.

The module employs a new integrated turnkey system architecture that combines a forced-air heat-sink and cooling fan, monitor photodiode, thermoelectric cooler, and thermistor. For maximum flexibility, the Power Pack is configured as a stand-alone module that easily interfaces with commercial laser current drivers and smoothly integrates into OEM systems. Each module can be configured to interface to a variety of standard fiber output connectors. “All this reduces overall system costs and makes new product development quick and easy,” says Baker.

Each module includes an internal visible aiming beam for verifying the alignment of laser output to the target. A 15-pin D connector provides easy integration of I/O signals.

Power Core 808 laser engine chip platform

In addition, the Power Core 808 is a new family of single-emitter laser engine chips that delivers up to 4W of output power at 808nm and can be customized for a variety of optics applications.

Picture: Power Core 808, a new family of single-emitter laser engine chips.

The compact design combines a small emitting aperture (100µm) with low beam divergence to produce very high brightness in a small, simple-to-integrate, chip-level device that is easily packaged into a variety of enclosures, including C-mount, and fiber-coupled MFP (mini fiber package) and HHL (high heat load). The Power Core 808 is designed for use in demanding industrial and coding applications, such as pumping and sensor-based instrumentation.

“Laser-based system designers are creating an astonishingly wide range of innovative products, but they frequently face the challenge of how to get the right laser for their particular needs,” says Baker. “Our Power Core line of laser engine chips provides high brightness, power, and reliability in a smaller, more efficient package,” he adds. “Power Core provides the flexibility designers need so they can pack more lasers in a smaller area or create smaller optics products.”

Expanded Hermes family of QCW stacked laser arrays

Intense has also expanded its Hermes family of high-power QCW (quasi-continuous wave) stacked laser arrays. The newest lasers, now qualified to military standards, combine high reliability and longer lifetime with robust, modular packaging in a standard wavelength of 808nm with power levels of up to 900W.

The stacks degrade by less than 5% over 2x10E8 shots (compared to competing products that degrade by 20% or more, claims Intense), so Hermes products provide much longer lifetimes, ultimately reducing costs for OEM developers.

The stacked arrays are ‘QWI-enabled’, developed using Intense’s patented quantum well intermixing (QWI) technology (developed by chief technology officer professor John Marsh).

“Hermes high-power lasers are based on a compact, modular architecture that delivers high brightness and high efficiency,” says Marsh. “This improves overall performance of the OEM system, reduces energy consumption, and allows for development of innovative optical products.”

The arrays are available as vertically or horizontally stacked assemblies of up to 10 bars, with lensed and unlensed options.

Picture: Hermes family of high-power QCW stacked laser arrays.

Standard configurations include 4-bar, 6-bar, 8-bar and 10-bar stacked arrays, with minimum peak output powers of 360W, 540W, 720W and 900W, respectively. Developed using a highly robust hard solder process for stack assembly, Hermes 900W has been qualified to military standard MIL-STD-810F, Methods 501.4, 503.4, 514.5, and 516.5.

Other wavelengths are available on request for all the above new products.

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