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News Article

Alfalight funding will boost diode laser efficiency

Alfalight, a manufacturer of high-power laser diodes based in Madison, WI, has been awarded $3.9 million in R&D funding from DARPA under its Super High Efficiency Diode Source (SHEDS) program.
The goal of the SHEDS program is to increase the wall-plug efficiency of high-power laser diodes to 65% in the first 18 months of the project, with a target of 80% in the following 18 months.

Further extensions to the contract could result in a total award to Alfalight of $5.3 million.

Current solid-state laser systems that are pumped by laser diode bars have an overall electrical-to-optical power conversion efficiency, or “wall plug” efficiency, as low as 10%.

This means that a 10 W laser, for example, would require 100 W of electrical power and would produce 90 W of heat. This heat significantly limits system performance and reliability.

The wall plug efficiency of the semiconductor diode lasers used in this type of system is the largest contributor to overall system wall plug efficiency. Therefore, improving the laser diode efficiency will greatly increase the possible output power and reliability of these solid-state laser systems.

Alfalight’s aluminum free active-region (ALFA) diode laser bars currently achieve over 50% wall-plug efficiency, which represents the best efficiency in the industry today.

The company will seek to increase the wall plug efficiency of its laser bars to 65% within 18 months, and to 80% within a further 18 months.

"Alfalight has already dedicated significant R&D resources toward improving diode laser efficiency, and DARPA s SHEDS program is the ideal opportunity for us to take our technology to the next level," said Tom Earles, co-founder and CTO of Alfalight.

"Funding from DARPA will enable us to enhance our technology to build better diode laser products for the defense industry."

US Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) said "I am very pleased to see a local Wisconsin firm selected for this R&D contract. I know Alfalight and its capabilities, and also understand the critical need to increase efficiencies in both diode lasers and their manufacture.

“Alfalight and its employees should be very proud of their cutting-edge technology that allowed them to win this contract. Wisconsin s high technology industry is growing, and Alfalight is helping lead the way."

Alfalight was founded in November 1998 with technologies developed at the Reed Center of Photonics, an engineering research center at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. These patented technologies are based upon the use of aluminum free active-region (ALFA) diode lasers.

Alfalight has exclusive licenses to pending laser patents for high-powered narrow spectral-width lasers, single mode lasers and short wavelength lasers, covering wavelengths from 700 nm to 1.6 microns.

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