IPG Photonics' new breakthrough In high brightness fiber-coupled diode lasers

OXFORD, USA: IPG Photonics Corp., a leader in high power fiber lasers and amplifiers, announced the availability of a 100 Watt fiber-coupled laser diode, the most powerful high brightness single-emitter based laser diode.

“This new laser diode delivers up to 100W power out of a 105µm core diameter fiber with a numerical aperture lower than 0.12” said Dr. Alex Ovtchinnikov, IPG Photonics Corporation’s Vice President - Components.

“It is assembled using IPG’s long-life 90µm wide single-emitter chips and proprietary micro-optics. The wall-plug efficiency exceeds 50% due to nonsaturated mode of operation at a thermally-conductive passive cooling. The package size is an order of magnitude smaller than similar devices on the market. Also taking in account the lowest cost per Watt, the new PLD-100 series is well ahead in performance of any existing fiber-coupled laser diodes available in the market.”

After release earlier in 2009 of the PLD-60 series with output power up to 60W in a 105µm core fiber, IPG now extends the power into the same fiber with the new PLD-100 series. The available choice of wavelength covers all 9xx nm spectral range. The product will be released for sale starting in Q4 2009.

Combining emission of these laser diodes, it is now possible to manufacture high power diode laser modules or complete system solutions with output powers up to multiple kWs out of a reasonably thin fiber with a narrow linewidth of emission.

Such solution provides new opportunities for plastic and metal welding, brazing, cladding, medical and many other applications. It simplifies the pumping schematics of superpower fiber and disc lasers and opens opportunities for further achievements.

IPG’s semiconductor products division is the world’s largest vertically-integrated maker of high power single-emitter based laser diodes.

Disruption in micro materials processing market opens opportunities for laser suppliers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: Sales of lasers for low-power materials processing has fallen by 40 percent in 2009, but sales will grow to exceed $460 million by 2013.

While the market appears at first to be merely scaling to the world economy, it is also likely to disrupt mark et share in many segments, in a game of musical chairs. These are some of the conclusions of a new report from Strategies Unlimited.

The strongest growth will be in fiber lasers, diode lasers, green lasers, m ode-locked (ultrafast) lasers, and lasers for manufacturing solar cells. All segments will see some growth beginning in 2010, but there will be more shuffling of technologies and suppliers than is first apparent, given the evolving situation in these segments.

Coherent, Rofin-Sinar, and GSI Group (including the revenues for Excel Technology for all of 2008) are at the top of the list in last year’s market share. This is because of the highly fragmented nature of the market.

These companies have strong shares in more than one laser technology in this low-power category, while many companies are highly concentrated in just one, or their sa les are split across other application areas not counted in this study.