Laser bar eases coupling of light into fibres

18th February 2015

Rutronik

Mick Elliott

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Rutronik is selling the SPL BF98-40-5 laser bar from Osram Opto Semiconductors, that thanks to its high brilliance considerably reduces the complexity of coupling light into fibres. Osram has optimised the chip design in terms of beam quality, resulting in a wavelength of 976nm and high brilliance of 3W/mm*mrad at an optical output of 44W. The laser bar is 5mm wide and consists of five emitters, each 100µm wide and each with cavity length of 4mm.

Brilliant laser sources generate a narrow beam of light with extremely small beam divergence and high power density. The lateral divergence of the beam emitted by the SPL BF98-40-5 is between 6° at 30W and approximately 9.5° at 60W, its maximum output.

This divergence was calculated for the portion of the laser beam containing 95% of the optical output power. With its excellent electro-optical efficiency of e.g. 65% at 44W, the laser diode reduces the level of cooling needed for the laser diode and improves the efficiency of the entire system as well as the aging stability.

The beam quality of a laser is a crucial factor for coupling laser light into optical fibres. A brilliant light source, as guaranteed by the SPL BF98-40-5, simplifies the design of the optical system and provides more cost-effective systems.

Fibre-coupled diode laser systems are used predominantly in the automobile industry for vehicle chassis welding, soldering and coating as well as for pumping fibre lasers. The wavelength of 976nm is ideal for pumping ytterbium-doped fibre lasers in particular, which can be used for cutting metal thanks to their excellent beam quality.