Multikilowatt Ultra-High Brightness Direct Diode Lasers
November 1, 2014
TeraDiode has announced shipments of multi-kilowatt high brightness TeraBlade lasers to major machine tool and automotive welding manufacturers in Europe and Japan.
According to the company, the TeraBlade platform benefits from a combination of economy of scale of semiconductor diode laser array chips and Wavelength Beam Combination (WBC), an MIT patented technology that enables the combination of energy from thousands of individual emitters into a single laser beam while preserving the beam quality needed for cutting and welding applications. WBC is unique for its inherent capability to preserve the wall-plug efficiency of direct diode lasers while delivering the high brightness previously achieved only by lasers requiring more complicated gain/feedback architectures. In fact, the TeraBlade lasers shipped with wall-plug efficiencies of 40%, far surpassing first generation CO2 and lamp pumped rod lasers that are approximately just 10% efficient as well as second generation diode pumped disk and fiber lasers that are roughly just three times more efficient than their predecessors.
4 kW is currently the highest power available in the product line, based on 600 W TeraBlade modules. The TeraBlade-4000 has a center wavelength of 970 nm and a 100-micron delivery fiber; versions are available with beam parameter products of under 4 mm-mrad for cutting and under 6 mm-mrad for remote welding. Its modular architecture makes the TeraBlade platform field serviceable and scalable to higher powers.
"Already, our first pilot production shipments have indeed fulfilled the vision of the third generation of high brightness industrial lasers by surpassing incumbents in efficiency and being similar in cost," said Dr. Parviz Tayebati, CEO of TeraDiode.
According to the company, innovations for doubling power, with improved beam quality and efficiency, are being incorporated into the 1.3 kW TeraBlade module. These higher brightness modules enable the TeraBlade platform to scale up to 10kW and serve a wide range of applications in the cutting and welding markets; such higher brightness direct diode lasers will be introduced in the coming quarters.
For more information contact:
Teradiode
30 Upton Drive
Wilmington, MA 01887
978-988-1040
www.teradiode.com
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