250W QCW conduction cooled high power semiconductor laser

High power diode laser arrays (HPDLAs) have increased applications in pumping of solid state laser systems for industrial, military and medical applications as well as direct material processing applications. For quasi-continuous wave (QCW) conduction-cooled-packaged high power semiconductor lasers, the operational mode is commonly at lower duty cycle (DC), such as less 2% DC. However, operating high power laser diode arrays in long pulse regime of about 200 mus, and high duty cycle (such as 8% DC), which greatly limits their useful lifetime, are demanded for some special application. Finite element numerical analysis based simulations to analyze the transient thermal behavior of a conduction-cooled-packaged semiconductor laser operated in QCW mode in this paper. This work describes the performance of laser diode arrays operating in long pulse and high duty cycle mode, including the characteristics of power-current-voltage (LIV), thermal, near-field, and lifetime. This paper will then offer a viable approach for determining the optimum design and operational parameters leading to the maximum attainable lifetime. Based on the numerical simulation and analysis, a series of high power semiconductor lasers with good performances were produced.