Direct diode lasers for industrial sheet metal cutting and welding

TeraDiode is manufacturing the first high brightness direct diode laser for industrial laser sheet metal cutting and welding. TeraDiode's core technology is based on Wavelength Beam Combination (WBC) which was developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Using WBC technology, TeraDiode has demonstrated a 100x brightness enhancement over conventional kW-class direct diode lasers. We are commercializing 2 kW and 4 kW direct diode lasers coupled to 100 micron, 0.1 NA output fibers. This enables for the first time direct diode lasers to be competitive with fiber lasers, solid state lasers, and carbon dioxide lasers which currently dominate the industrial laser cutting and welding market. Direct diode lasers are more efficient, higher in reliability, and lower in upfront and maintenance cost as compared with conventional industrial lasers. TeraDiode (TDI) is a spin-off company of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is commercializing the first high brightness direct diode laser for industrial laser cutting and welding [1-3]. TeraDiode's core technology is based on Wavelength Beam Combination (WBC) which was developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. See Figure 1. Using WBC technology, TeraDiode has demonstrated a 100x brightness enhancement over conventional kW-class direct diode lasers. We are commercializing a 4 kW diode laser coupled to a 100 micron, 0.1 NA fiber. This enables for the first time direct diode lasers to be competitive with fiber lasers, solid state lasers, and carbon dioxide lasers which currently dominate the industrial laser cutting and welding market. Direct diode lasers are more efficient (50% versus 20% efficient), higher in reliability (greater than 20,000 hour lifetime expected) and lower in upfront and maintenance cost as compared with conventional industrial lasers.