Laser Diode Fabrication Capabilities at CEO
Northrop Grumman’s subsidiary, Cutting Edge Optronics (CEO) has been processing and facet coating high-power laser diode wafers and edge-emitting quantum well laser diodes for over 20 years. These laser diodes range across the near-infrared spectrum from 640nm to 1650nm and provide output powers from tens to hundreds of watts per device. These designs are based both on internal epitaxial designs as well as customer designed structures.
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Technical Note #21 - 4J DPSS Ti:Sapphire Pump Laser
A new generation of diode-pumped solid-state lasers has been developed that enables ultra-stable Ti:Sapphire pumping at high energies. We report an injection-seeded, all diode-pumped high-energy Nd:YLF laser system based on a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration. The laser produces pulses with over 4 J of pulse energy at 10 Hz, 527 nm, and pulse duration of ~13 ns. The laser is specifically designed to produce a uniform, flat-top beam in the near field. ...READ MORE
Technical Note #20 - Pump Lasers for Ultrafast Amplifiers
The performance of CEO pump lasers is examined in this work, particularly the 50 mJ Patara™-HP50 YLF and 200 W Patara-HP200 YAG lasers. Analysis of pulse energy performance over repetition rate is presented, as is a summay of the beam quality, optical pulse, and long-term power stability. A discussion of reliability is also included. ...READ MORE
Technical Note #18 - Laser Pulse Train Amplification with PowerPULSE™ Modules
Northrop Grumman Cutting Edge Optronics (NGCEO) has developed a line of laser amplifiers specifically for high-energy, quasi-CW operation. The PowerPULSE™ laser amplifiers can operate at high pump powers for pumping times on the order of milliseconds. This allows high amplification factors over longer times at lower thermal loads ...READ MORE
Technical Note #17 - kW-Class, Wavelength Stabilized Laser Diode Arrays
Northrop Grumman Cutting Edge Optronics has developed a process for building high-power laser diode arrays with narrow emission spectra by adding Volume Bragg Gratings during the packaging process. These arrays emit with a spectral width of approximately 0.5nm (FWHM), and are available with output powers ranging from tens of watts to several kilowatts ...READ MORE
Technical Note #16 - QCW Diode Array Reliability at 8xx nm
Northrop Grumman Cutting Edge Optronics has recently developed high-power laser diode arrays specifically for long-life operation in quasi-CW applications. These arrays feature a new epitaxial wafer design that utilizes a large optical cavity and are packaged using AuSn solder and CTE-matched heat sinks. Reliable operating points are identified for various applications including range finding (product lifetimes less than 1 billion shots) and industrial machining (product lifetimes greater than 20 billion shots) ...READ MORE
Technical Note #15 - High Density Laser Diode Arrays
Northrop Grumman Cutting Edge Optronics has developed a new laser diode array package with minimal bar-to-bar spacing. These High Density Stack (HDS) packages allow for a power density increase on the order of ~ 2.5x when compared to industry-standard arrays. The HDS laser package enables power densities of approximately 25 kW/cm2 ...READ MORE
Technical Note #13 - Reliability of High Power QCW Arrays
Northrop Grumman Cutting Edge Optronics has developed a family of arrays for high-power QCW operation. These arrays are built using CTE-matched heat sinks and hard solder in order to maximize the reliability of the devices. The life tests demonstrate the high level of reliability of these arrays in a number of operating regimes. A MTTF of 19.8 billion shots is predicted ...READ MORE
