Bookham, Inc. (Bookham) has introduced a new 10mm laser diode bar with an output power of 200 watt (W) at Photonics West 2009. The new 200W bar represents a 60% power increase compared to the previous products offered by the company with the same footprint. The new 200W bar is designed to enable manufacturers of direct diode laser systems to compete with fiber lasers and CO 2 lasers in multi-kilowatt material processing applications.

The bar provides CW and hard pulse operation at a rated power of 200W and is designed on a micro-channel single-sided cooling configuration to allow low pitch of the stack. The new high power bar meets the need of direct diode and solid state laser system manufacturers for increased power with discrete piece parts and reduced complexity of optics. In line with scaling the power output to 200W, the efficiency of the device has been scaled to reduce heat dissipation, resulting in a wall plug efficiency of 65%.

“Bringing to market a diode bar capable of delivering 200W with such a small form factor is a major achievement, and one that sees Bookham continue to innovate and to lead the way in high power components,” said Gunnar Stolze , Director High Power Laser Marketing and Sales at Bookham. “CO 2 laser systems have dominated the materials processing market in the 5kW to 20kW range for applications such as metal cutting and welding; this high power, high brightness bar – a truly disruptive technology – will open up that significant market to the direct diode manufacturers.”

Like all Bookham High Power Laser Products, the front facet of the bar is protected against Catastrophic Optical Damage by the Bookham proprietary E2 mirror passivation process. Telecom grade AuSn (gold tin) hard solder makes the product suitable for demanding industrial and defense applications in CW and hard pulse operation mode.