High-Power Diode Laser Array Metrology

Published

October 1, 2005

Author(s)

Christopher L. Cromer, Xiaoyu X. Li

Abstract

NIST has been tasked by DARPA to provide wall plug efficiency and spectral measurements of high-power high-efficiency laser diodes and arrays for DARPA's Super High Efficiency Diode Sources (SHEDS)program. To meet the needs for this project, the Optoelectronics Division has developed a new laboratory at NIST to measure electrical power, optical power, wavelength and line width, and junction temperature for lasers supplied by project participants. We describe a novel flowing-water optical power meter (FWOPM) that we have developed to meet the unique optical power measurement challenges presented by these lasers. We have also developed a new method for determining the average laser junction temperature through a simple model of laser waste heat as a function of drive current and cooling temperature. In addition, we present a preliminary uncertainty analysis that yields 1 % uncertainty (with a confidence interval of 95 %) for the efficiency measurements. We intend to continue offering these measurements as part of the NIST Calibration Services for optical radiation measurements, which are available to anyone for a fee.

Proceedings Title

Proc., 24th International Congress on Applications of Lasers and Electro-Optics (ICALEO)

Conference Dates

October 31-November 3, 2005

Conference Location

Miami, FL, USA

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

diode, efficiency, high-power, laser, radiometer, standards

Citation

Cromer, C. and Li, X. (2005), High-Power Diode Laser Array Metrology, Proc., 24th International Congress on Applications of Lasers and Electro-Optics (ICALEO), Miami, FL, USA, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=32053 (Accessed October 20, 2025)