High-power diodes-lasers and their direct industrial applications 1

The paper summarises activities of the two Fraunhofer-Institutes ILT and IPT oncerning the development of high-power laserdiode stacks and their direct industrial applications. With microchannel coolers in copper technology and ultra-recision machined micro-optics a stack of 330 - 400 W total power with a maximum intensity of the focused beam of 2 10(exp 4) W/sqm has been built and tested in first applications. By further improvements of the lens-fabrication and -alignment technology as well as in crease of the number of stacked diodes an output power in the kW-range and intensifies up to about 10 (exp5) W/sqm shall be achieved in the near future. Applications of such laser sources in surface technology, in the processing of plastics, in Laser-Assisted Machining and in brazing are discussed.