EU BRIDLE project seeks to develop affordable 2 kW direct laser diode
European Union--Initiated on September 1, 2012 with a three-year project duration, the European Commission (EC) 7th Framework Programme FP7-2012-NMP-ICT-FoF or Brilliant Industrial Diode Laser (BRIDLE) project (http://www.bridle.eu) brings together seven European industrial and academic partners (DILAS Diodenlaser, Fraunhofer ILT, Modulight, Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, University of Nottingham, CNRS, and Bystronic Laser) that seek to develop an affordable direct diode laser source for industrial materials processing applications.
By using advanced high-power diode laser technologies and beam combination architectures (http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/print/volume-48/issue-06/features/beam-combining-cranks-up-the-power.html), dramatic improvements in performance, cost, manufacturability and future scalability will be achieved. During the project, these technologies will be integrated into a sequence of increasingly high-brilliance demonstrators, each targeting specific industrial applications, leading up to an affordable diode laser source with an output power of > 2 kW from a 100 micron optical fiber and efficiency > 40%, which will target industrial applications requiring the cutting and welding of sheet metal.
BRIDLE's approach is modular, scalable and forward compatible. It begins with high brilliance mini-bars with 2-3X higher brilliance (approximately 7 W @ 0.8-1.5 mm mrad) than the best broad-area emitters (approximately 7 W @ 2.7 mm mrad). Spectral beam combining allows a further increase of the total brilliance by 30-40X. Advanced coherent beam combining techniques are also being pursued to develop phase-coupled mini-bars with a nearly diffraction limited output to facilitate further significant improvements in both spatial and spectral brilliance.
BRIDLE's approach is chosen to be compatible with manufacturability and cost scaling requirements. State-of-the-art simulation tools are being used to optimize designs for laser bars and systems. The cost and complexity of the optical system are reduced by integrating optics inside the mini-bars. Efficient, extremely low vertical divergence structures will lead to low-cost, smile-insensitive assembly and low-loss optical coupling. The chosen packaging and beam combining techniques will allow simple fabrication and good thermal management.
SOURCE: BRIDLE project; http://www.bridle.eu
Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.