Technical Insight
Coherent laser focuses on argon applications (New Devices)
Santa Clara, CA. Coherent Laser Division has developed a prototype 488 nm laser. The device is targeted at applications dominated by air-cooled argon lasers, from DNA sequencing through to printing and photo processing. Currently in beta testing, the OPSL-488 is an optically pumped 976 nm VCSEL-type structure grown by MBE, with a frequency doubled element to produce 20 mW at 488 nm. Coherent has also introduced a diode-pumped UV laser producing 4.5 W of power at 355 nm. The AVIA device is pumped by two field-replaceable Al-free active area diode modules, also manufactured by Coherent (see ). www.coherentinc.com
