Foreign Collaborators

Dr. R. Watson, Sandia National Lab, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Dr. D. Youchison, Sandia National Lab, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Dr. D. Driemeyer, McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Corporation, St. Louis, MO, USA

Dr. R. Boyd, PVA&M University, USA

№ - 0129 1 kW Power Diode-Pumped, Solid-State Laser

Full Title:	The Creation of 1 kW Power Diode-Pumped, Solid-State Laser
Technology Field(s):	PHY-OPL: Physics / Optics and Lasers

Contributors

Roman F Kurunov

Efremov Scientific Research Institute of Electrophysical Apparatus (NIIEFA Efremov) 1, Sovetskiy pr., Metellostroj, St Petersburg, 189631, Russia Phone: 7+812+2655991 Fax: 7+812+4639812; 7+812+3143360

Present Status of Research

Brief Description of Research

The given project includes two stages. The first stage will develop and create: basic technologies for the industrial production of a multi-striped diode laser line with output power in the 10 W range; multi-striped diode laser matrixes with output power in the 100 W range; a model of a pumping system based on multi-stripe laser diodes for solid-state lasers ranging from 100 to 1000 W; a technical offer on the creation of the 1 kW power diode pumped solid-state laser.

For the creation of powerful laser diodes and their basic matrixes, a modified method of Liquid Phases Epitaxy (LPE) will be used allowing for the formation of low threshold heterostructures with quantum size layers. In the second stage, work will consist of creating an experimental sample of the 1 kW power diode-pumped solid-state laser. The first stage of the project already has received the support of ISTC, and will be financed (Project No. 377).

First Stage

The development of powerful (0.5 to 1 kW) diode pumped solid-state lasers is conducted at practically all large centers of science, such as the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the Sandia National Laboratories and others. In 1993. LLNL developed a diode pumped solid-state laser with output power of 1 kW. At the end of 1993, the Fibertek firm (Herndon, VA) apparently created a 400W laser and began developing a 1 kW power diode-pumped solid-state laser.

The advantages of diode-pumped lasers are stipulated by higher pumping efficiencies, as well as the reliability of laser diodes. The important factor is essentially the smaller dimensions of those lasers with diode pumping capabilities. However, the high costs of such powerful laser diodes used in the pumping of solid-state lasers is a determining factor in preventing the wide introduction of powerful solid-state lasers with diode pumping in various areas of science and engineering.

Among the existing technologies used in creating powerful laser diodes, by far the cheapest is LPE technology. It is currently 10 to 20 times cheaper than MOCVD and MBE technologies. The work of other Russian scientists has shown that, through a modernized method of Liquid Phases Epitaxy, it is possible to form low threshold heterostructures with quantum size layers. Thus, the work achieved a significant threshold current at a density of 100 A/sm². Structures with an indicated threshold current density can become a basis for powerful multi-stripe diode lasers.