optics.org blog

« SPIE to honour Lothar Späth at LASER | Main | Lasers in Manufacturing 2009 conference stronger than ever »

LASER 2009: new product focus

The latest news from GSI Group, Ibsen Photonics, JDSU and Hamamatsu.

400 W fibre laser
GSI Group, UK, will be exhibiting the latest addition to its range of JK fibre lasers for welding and cutting applications. The JK400FL is a 400 W CW source that doubles the available power of the JK product line while using the same single-resonator platform. According to GSI, the singlemode output fibre delivers a near diffraction-limited beam that is consistent and stable across the whole power range. At maximum power, wall-plug efficiency is better than 25%, leading to economic operation and low environmental impact. In-built backreflection protection ensures that the laser continues to work even in the most demanding applications, without the need for a costly Faraday isolator.
www.gsiglasers.com

High-power transmission gratings
Ibsen Photonics, Denmark, will feature a family of high-power transmission gratings for 1064 nm, 800 nm and custom wavelengths. Fused-silica transmission gratings offer a power-handling capability that’s claimed to be an order of magnitude greater than any other grating technology, including conventional gold-coated reflection gratings. Applications include pulse compression, spectral beam-combining and other high-power applications, which can be either CW or extremely short pulses. “Our fused-silica grating technology is perfectly suited to high-power applications, where users have been hitting the energy ceiling of grating types available up until now,” says product manager Kristian Buchwald. “Our high-power gratings are comprised of 100% low-OH fused silica, plus standard high-power dielectric AR [antireflection] coatings.”
www.ibsen.dk

UV optical filters
JDSU (Milpitas, CA) says that its UV optical filters “provide unparalleled UV light transmission - up to four times the transmission of traditional UV filters”. The manufacturer also claims that its products are more durable and stable than existing filters because they are made up of hard dielectric material with a single-substrate structure. The filters, available in custom designs and large formats of up to 200 mm, can be used be used for any application in which the harmful portion of the UV spectrum must be eliminated while transmitting the desired wavelength - e.g. environmental monitoring, medical/aesthetic laser instruments, flame or gas detection, semiconductor lithography and genetic research.
www.jdsu.com

Quantum-cascade lasers
Hamamatsu Photonics, UK, will introduce a new range of quantum-cascade DFB lasers for applications in next-generation IR laser spectroscopy systems. The L10195 series is available with two wavelength options as standard: 7.7 microns for the L10195-01 and 5.2 microns for the L10195-02. Each product has a typical output power of 15 mW. According to the vendor, quantum-cascade lasers are the only mid-infrared semiconductor laser that can operate easily at room temperature utilizing peltier cooling. What’s more, the tunability of the emission wavelength enables high-resolution analysis of a variety of gases (e.g. CH₄, N₂O and H₂CO) in medical diagnostics and security applications.
www.sales.hamamatsu.com

Posted by Tim Hayes on June 2, 2009 3:00 PM | Permalink