December 11, 2007, Milpitas, CA--JDSU is targeting the fiber-laser pump market and industrial and medical applications with its new next-generation L4 diode-laser platform. According to the company, the L4 is the most powerful fiber-coupled diode-laser solution now on the market.
"This is the highest power commercially available device among single-emitter diode lasers," said Franck Leibreich, Manager, High Power Laser Marketing, Integrated Photonics Business Unit, JDSU. "We were already in this market but limited to 8.5-W diode lasers. Now we can offer up to 10 W in a smaller and more efficient package that is designed in particular for fiber-laser pumps."
The L4 lasers are also intended for a broad range of industrial and medical applications, including materials processing and dental soft-tissue surgery. The packaging, which leverages innovative chip designs developed during JDSU's involvement in the Super High Efficiency Diode Sources (SHED) program sponsored by DARPA, takes up less space compared to previous designs, enabling original equipment manufacturers to pack more diode lasers into a smaller space within their systems.
"The focus of the SHED program was to obtain very-high-efficiency diode lasers," Leibreich said. "So we are using some of the results from our work with that program to improve the efficiency and reliability of diode lasers at this power level."
Other features of the L4 platform include:
--100 µm fiber delivery at 0.22 numerical aperture (NA) or 0.15NA. This allows for higher brightness within the fiber, or the ability of a system to focus laser light in a smaller diameter for specific applications.
--New electrical format. The simplified electrical design removes need for additional parts, making the diode laser easier to integrate into OEM systems.
Improved wavelength flexibility.
--Available in a variety of wavelengths in the 910- to 980-nm range.
"With the new L4 platform, JDSU has increased the performance, power and efficiency of our diode lasers, all within a smaller footprint," said Alex Schoenfelder, vice president and general manager of Integrated Photonics at JDSU. "Our customers benefit by getting higher performance diode laser solutions that aren't more expensive than previous offerings, thanks to our high volume manufacturing capabilities."
The company has already shipped more than 2000 L4 units and is ramping up offshore production this month in anticipation of shipping 10,000-12,000 units/month, according to Leibreich.