II-VI Inc launches 600W direct-diode laser engine

Engineered materials and optoelectronic component maker II-VI Inc of Saxonburg, PA, USA (which makes laser components and subsystems) says that its DirectProcess 900 direct-diode laser engine is now available with 600W continuous output power, in a smaller form factor and with new network interfaces.

Direct-diode laser technology has emerged to improve productivity for a growing number of materials processing applications, including aluminium processes in automotive and consumer products. II-VI says that, in particular, its direct-diode laser engines enable greater energy efficiencies and improved quality of workmanship in aluminium cutting and welding operations.

“600 Watt output power in a square beam and at aluminium’s peak absorption wavelength is very attractive for a broad range of aluminium and aluminium-copper processing applications,” says Wolfgang Gries, general manager, II-VI DirectPhotonics. “Using GaAs emitters and high-power laser optics manufactured in-house, II-VI achieves an unmatched level of vertical integration in its network-ready laser engines aimed at Industry 4.0 smart factories,” he adds.

Due to their small size and light weight, II-VI’s direct-diode laser engines can be mounted on robotic arms such that the power of the wavelength-optimized laser diodes are directly transferred to the work piece, achieving very high energy efficiency. Featuring square beams with high power uniformity, the direct-diode laser engines enable aluminium cuts with sufficiently smooth edges to reduce or eliminate post-process steps, says the firm.

The DirectProcess 900 can be managed and programmed remotely to perform precisely timed processes through its new TCP/IP and EtherCAT interfaces. II-VI’s direct-diode laser engines can be deployed along with the firm’s multi-kW laser heads or laser light cables. II-VI says that it can also design and manufacture custom beam-delivery solutions by leveraging its broad portfolio of high-power laser optics.

In Hall A2, Stand #117, at Laser World of Photonics 2017 in Munich, Germany (26-29 June), II-VI is exhibiting its portfolio of merchant products for laser technology platforms employed in high-power or precision materials processing. From ultraviolet to far-infrared, II-VI’s laser optics will be on display along with new products for fiber lasers and as well as laser heads and beam delivery solutions. In the life sciences area, II-VI’s display consists of spectroscopy optics, flow cells and precision temperature controlled modules to support advances such as in DNA sequencing. The firm is also exhibiting products from epitaxial wafers to semiconductor lasers that can enable new features such as 3D sensing in the next generation of consumer electronics.