• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.113-117
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• 2017

With the increasing use of high-power laser diode bars (LDBs) and stacked LDBs, the issue of thermal control has become critical, as temperature is related to device efficiency and lifetime, as well as to beam quality. To improve the thermal resistance of an LDB set, we propose and analyze a bypass heat sink with a top canopy structure for an LDB set, instead of adopting a thick submount. The thermal bypassing in the top-canopy structure is efficient, as it avoids the cross-sectional thermal saturation that may exist in a thick submount. The efficient thickness range of the submount in a typical LDB set is guided by the thermal resistance as a function of thickness, and the simulated bypassing efficiency of a canopy is higher than a simple analytical prediction, especially for thinner canopies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.11-22
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• 2022

This paper presents the development process for a high-power diode laser for metal surface hardening. To combine the emissions from several laser bars, it is necessary to collimate the emitted light using an optical lens. Thus, to achieve a suitable power density and uniform beam profile, several optical layouts were proposed. To estimate the laser beam for a flat-top distribution, a numerical analysis was performed using the ZEMAX software, and the results were compared with the experimental results. With a focal lens assembled in a serial diode stack source, the design can utilize the advantage of compacting the overall beam size. Experimental results for a robotic system demonstrated the processing ability of this diode laser module in industrial laser hardening.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.53-56
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• 2012

We have developed a slab-type Nd:YAG gain module based on the techniques of conduction cooling and end pumping. The Nd:YAG slab is end-capped on both ends by undoped pure YAG and is pumped through the end-caps by stacked arrays of laser diode bars. The slab's surfaces of total internal reflection are in contact on both sides with microchannel cooling blocks which are cooled by water circulation. The power oscillator based on the gain module generates more than 400 W at 1-kW pumping with a slope efficiency of 55%. The small-signal gain of the gain module is 10 in a single zig-zag pass, and the amplified beam shows a near diffraction-limited beam quality.