Advances in infrared high power lasers for long term operation

Today, infrared semiconductor lasers are used in a variety of applications in conjunction with a large range of different operating conditions. We report on improvements of different lasers, each tailored to the specific application. For cw laser bars, we report on efficiency improvements to further increase the output power beyond today’s power limits for reliable operation with 250 W. For long term use under q-cw conditions, we show a very cost effective approach using a 1.5 mm cavity, capable to provide 500 W. For sensing applications we report on 200 μm wide emitters providing 130 W of pulsed power, based on monolithically stacked laser structures.