Paul Wolf

High-power, high-brightness and low-weight fiber coupled diode laser device

New solid-state laser devices, especially fiber laser systems, require increasingly higher optical pump power provided by fiber-coupled diode laser modules. In particular for defense technology, robust but lightweight high-power diode laser sources with high brightness are needed. We have developed a novel diode laser device combining high power, high brightness, wavelength stabilization and low weight, which becomes more and more important for a multitude of applications. Heart of the device is a specially tailored laser bar, which epitaxial and lateral structure is designed such that only standard fast- and slow-axis collimator lenses are required to couple the beam into a 200 μm fiber with numerical aperture of 0.22. In this paper we present a detailed characterization of the new diode laser device with up to 775 W of optical power coupled into a 200 μm, NA 0.22 fiber. One important feature of the device is a lightweight design due to a special housing optimized for low weight. In addition we present results of a diode laser device with 675 W of optical output power and improved spectral quality, which is ensured over a wide range of temperature and current by means of volume holographic gratings for wavelength stabilization. For this device an overall efficiency of more than 42.5 % has been achieved. Furthermore we present a compact diode laser source with 230 W of optical power coupled into a 200 μm, NA 0.22 fiber. This diode laser device is optimized with regard to highest efficiency and yields an overall electro-optical efficiency of more than 50 %.

Advances in performance and beam quality of 9xx-nm laser diodes tailored for efficient fiber coupling

The impact of new direct-diode and fiber laser systems on industrial manufacturing drives the demand for highbrightness diode laser pump sources suitable for simple fiber coupling with high efficiency. Within the German funded project HEMILAS laser mini-bars with different bar geometries and small fill factors were investigated. We present results on 9xx nm bars with tailored beam parameter products for simplified coupling to fibers with core diameters of 200μm and 300μm with a numerical aperture of 0.22 and compare beam quality parameters, brightness, conversion efficiency, and thermal performance of different bar designs. Optimized epitaxy structures yield conversion efficiency maxima above 66%. The slow axis divergence angle of mini-bars with a fill factor of 10% featuring five 100μm wide and 4mm long emitters based on this epitaxy structure stays below 7°, which corresponds to a beam parameter product of 15mm mrad, up to very high output power of over 45W. This result was achieved for mounting on actively cooled submounts using hard solder. A similar bar with 5mm cavity length and using soft soldering reached an output power of 60W at the same beam parameter product. At 4mm cavity length, no COMD failures were observed up to currents exceeding the thermal rollover and the maximum output cw power was 95W.

Scalable high-power and high-brightness fiber coupled diode laser devices

The demand for high-power and high-brightness fiber coupled diode laser devices is mainly driven by applications for solid-state laser pumping and materials processing. The ongoing power scaling of fiber lasers requires scalable fibercoupled diode laser devices with increased power and brightness. For applications in materials processing multi-kW output power with beam quality of about 30 mm x mrad is needed. We have developed a modular diode laser concept combining high power, high brightness, wavelength stabilization and optionally low weight, which becomes more and more important for a multitude of applications. In particular the defense technology requires robust but lightweight high-power diode laser sources in combination with high brightness. Heart of the concept is a specially tailored diode laser bar, whose epitaxial and lateral structure is designed such that only standard fast- and slow-axis collimator lenses in combination with appropriate focusing optics are required to couple the beam into a fiber with a core diameter of 200 μm and a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.22. The spectral quality, which is an important issue especially for fiber laser pump sources, is ensured by means of Volume Holographic Gratings (VHG) for wavelength stabilization. In this paper we present a detailed characterization of different diode laser sources based on the scalable modular concept. The optical output power is scaled from 180 W coupled into a 100 μm NA 0.22 fiber up to 1.7 kW coupled into a 400 μm NA 0.22 fiber. In addition we present a lightweight laser unit with an output power of more than 300 W for a 200 μm NA 0.22 fiber with a weight vs. power ratio of only 0.9 kg/kW.

Multi-kW cw fiber oscillator pumped by wavelength stabilized fiber coupled diode lasers

High power Yb doped fiber laser sources are beside CO2- and disk lasers one of the working horses of industrial laser applications. Due to their inherently given robustness, scalability and high efficiency, fiber laser sources are best suited to fulfill the requirements of modern industrial laser applications in terms of power and beam quality. Pumping Yb doped single-mode fiber lasers at 976nm is very efficient. Thus, high power levels can be realized avoiding limiting nonlinear effects like SRS. However the absorption band of Yb doped glass around 976nm is very narrow. Therefore, one has to consider the wavelength shift of the diode lasers used for pumping. The output spectrum of passively cooled diode lasers is mainly defined by the applied current and by the heat sink temperature. Furthermore the overall emission line width of a high power pump source is dominated by the large number of needed diode laser emitters, each producing an individual spectrum. Even though it is possible to operate multi-kW cw single-mode fiber lasers with free running diode laser pumps, wavelength stabilizing techniques for diode lasers (e.g. volume holographic gratings, VHG) can be utilized in future fiber laser sources to increase the output power level while keeping the energy consumption constant. To clarify the benefits of wavelength stabilized diode lasers with integrated VHG for wavelength locking the performance of a dual side pumped fiber oscillator is discussed in this article. For comparison, different pumping configurations consisting of stabilized and free-running diode lasers are presented.

Multi-kW high-brightness fiber coupled diode laser

Fiber coupled diode laser devices are attractive light sources for applications in the area of solid-state laser pumping and materials processing. The ongoing improvement in the brightness of diode lasers, which means power per beam quality, makes more and more industrial applications accessible to diode lasers. For many applications in materials processing multi-kW output power with a beam quality of better than 30 mm x mrad is needed. Previously we have reported on a modular diode laser platform based on a tailored bar design (T-Bar) and have demonstrated an output power of up to 785 W out of a 200 μm NA 0.22 fiber at a single wavelength of 976 nm. We have now extended that tailored bar platform to different wavelengths in the range from 900 nm to 1100 nm. At each single wavelength efficient fiber coupling into a 200 μm NA 0.22 fiber will be demonstrated. One important concept for power scaling is coarse wavelength multiplexing with a spectral separation of typically about 40 nm. Combining of different wavelengths enables scalable multi-kW high-brightness diode laser units. Further power scaling can be achieved by dense wavelength multiplexing with a spectral separation of only about 5 nm. In this paper we report on a diode laser unit with 3.5 kW output power and a beam quality of 25 mm x mrad.

High-power diode laser modules from 410 nm to 2200 nm

In this work we report on high-power diode laser modules covering a wide spectral range from 410 nm to 2200 nm. Driven by improvements in the technology of diode laser bars with non-standard wavelengths, such systems are finding a growing number of applications. Fields of application that benefit from these developments are direct medical applications, printing industry, defense technology, polymer welding and pumping of solid-sate lasers. Diode laser bars with standard wavelengths from 800 - 1000 nm are based on InGaAlAs, InGaAlP, GaAsP or InGaAs semiconductor material with an optical power of more than 100 W per bar. For shorter wavelengths from 630 - 690 nm InGaAlP semiconductor material is used with an optical power of about 5 W per bar. Extending the wavelength range beyond 1100 nm is realized by using InGaAs on InP substrates or with InAs quantum dots embedded in GaAs for wavelengths up to 1320 nm and (AlGaIn)(AsSb) for wavelengths up to 2200 nm. In these wavelength ranges the output power per bar is about 6 - 20 W. In this paper we present a detailed characterization of these diode laser bars, including measurements of power, spectral data and life time data. In addition, we will show different fiber coupled modules, ranging from 638 nm with 13 W output power (400 μm fiber, NA 0.22) up to 1940 nm with more than 50 W output power (600 μm fiber NA 0.22).

Enhanced fiber coupled laser power and brightness for defense applications through tailored diode and thermal design

Advances in both diode laser design and packaging technology, particularly thermal management, are needed to enhance the brightness of fiber coupled diode lasers while maintaining the small size and light weight required for defense applications. The principles of design for high efficiency fiber coupling are briefly covered. Examples are provided of fielded and demonstrated 100 and 200 micron diameter fiber coupled packages ranging in output from a few hundred to kW-class units in fibers, to include sub-kg/kW capabilities. The demand for high-power and high-brightness fiber coupled diode laser devices is mainly driven by applications for solid-state and fiber laser pumping. The ongoing power scaling of fiber lasers requires scalable fiber-coupled diode laser devices with increased power and brightness. A modular diode laser concept combining high power, high brightness, wavelength stabilization and low weight, which is considerable concern in the SWaP trades needed to field defense systems, has been developed. In particular the defense technology requires robust but lightweight high-power diode laser sources in combination with high brightness. The heart of the concept is a specially tailored diode laser bar, with the epitaxial and lateral structures designed such that only standard fast- and slow-axis collimator lenses in combination with appropriate focusing optics are required to couple the beam into a fiber with a core diameter of 200 μm and a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.22. The spectral quality, which is an important issue especially for fiber laser pump sources, is ensured by means of Volume Holographic Gratings (VHG) for wavelength stabilization. This paper presents a detailed characterization of different diode laser sources based on the scalable modular concept. The optical output power is scaled from 180 W coupled into a 100 μm NA 0.22 fiber up to 800W coupled into a 400 μm NA 0.22 fiber. In addition we present a lightweight laser unit with an output power of more than 300 W for a 200 μm NA 0.22 fiber with a weight vs. power ratio of only 0.9 kg/kW.

Modular high power diode lasers with flexible 3D multiplexing arrangement optimized for automated manufacturing

A novel 3-dimensional arrangement of mirrors is used to re-arrange beams from 1-D and 2-D high power diode laser arrays. The approach allows for a variety of stacking geometries, depending on individual requirements. While basic building blocks, including collimating optics, always remain the same, most adaptations can be realized by simple rearrangement of a few optical components. Due to fully automated alignment processes, the required changes can be realized in software by changing coordinates, rather than requiring customized mechanical components. This approach minimizes development costs due to its flexibility, while reducing overall product cost by using similar building blocks for a variety of products and utilizing a high grade of automation. The modules can be operated with industrial grade water, lowering overall system and maintenance cost. Stackable macro coolers are used as the smallest building block of the system. Each cooler can hold up to five diode laser bars. Micro optical components, collimating the beam, are mounted directly to the cooler. All optical assembly steps are fully automated. Initially, the beams from all laser bars propagate in the same direction. Key to the concept is an arrangement of deflectors, which re-arrange the beams into a 2-D array of the desired shape and high fill factor. Standard multiplexing techniques like polarization- or wavelengths-multiplexing have been implemented as well. A variety of fiber coupled modules ranging from a few hundred watts of optical output power to multiple kilowatts of power, as well as customized laser spot geometries like uniform line sources, have been realized.

Optical components for tailoring beam properties of multi-kW diode lasers

One important aspect for the increasing use of diode lasers in industrial applications is the flexibility of diode lasers to tailor the beam properties to the specific needs demanded from the application. For fiber coupled solutions beam shaping with appropriate micro-optical elements is used for efficient fiber coupling of the highly asymmetric diode laser beam, whereas for direct applications optical elements are used to generate specific intensity distributions, like homogenized lines, areas and rings. Applications with diode lasers like solid state laser pump sources often require tailored spectral characteristics with narrow bandwidth, which is realized by using volume Bragg gratings for wavelength stabilization. In this paper we will summarize several concepts for adapting beam properties of diode lasers by using specific optical components. For building very compact laser modules of up to 2 kW we already presented a concept based on beam shaping of high fill factor bars. In this paper we will focus on further tailoring the beam properties of these very compact laser modules in the wavelength range from 808 nm up to 1020 nm. Fiber coupling of such modules into an 800 μm NA0.22 fiber yielded 1.6 kW without using polarization coupling. Another example is the generation of a 2.5 kW homogenized line with 40 mm length and a width of 4 mm.

Tailored bars at 976 nm for high-brightness fiber-coupled modules

In 2007, DILAS proposed the approach to tailor the output beam characteristics of laser diodes to match the required beam quality of a desired target fiber, thus, drastically simplifying the coupling optics to basically only fast and slow axis collimation lenses. Over the last years, we developed and improved this tailored bar (T-Bar) concept together with the tooling for fully automated mass production of fiber-coupled T-Bar modules for fiber laser pumping as well as for direct applications. We present results on the improvement of T-Bars tailored for optimized coupling into fibers with a diameter of 200 μm with NA 0.22 corresponding to a beam parameter product of 22 mm·mrad. Cost efficient coupling to this fiber requires a tailored beam parameter product smaller than 15.5 mm·mrad in slow axis direction corresponding to a slow axis beam divergence of 7° (full angle, 95% power content) for five 100 μm wide emitters. The improved T-Bars fulfil this requirement up to an output power of 52 W with a brightness of 3.1 W/mm·mrad and a power conversion efficiency achieving 69%. This progress in the T-Bar performance together with modifications in the module design led to the increase of the reliable output power from 135 W in 2009 to 360 W in 2017 for a T-Bar module with one baseplate. We will also give a review of the main development steps and further R and D improvements.