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World’s Smallest OEM Laser Sources for Portable, Handheld Applications

We provide a huge range of configurations for the ‘World’s Smallest’ DPSS & Diode Lasers and Multi-Wavelength Combiners. The low cost, lightweight & ultra-compact footprint, USB power, and other features, make these lasers and multi-wavelength combiners perfect for any kind of portable, handheld applications, whether out in the field, or for efficient and convenient use in the lab, receiving center, incoming inspection, or anywhere you nee… Read More

Space-Qualified Laser Diodes: Development, Qualification & Acceptance

For many years, space applications have steadily increased the utilization of laser diodes for various instruments (mainly pump sources for solid-state lasers). Because of this, organizations have developed qualification methodologies to ensure high levels of quality, performance, and lifetime. In recent years, increasingly complex scientific payloads have required more precise lasers for metrology, calibration, and environmenta… Read More

Pick a Color, Any Color! Versatile, User-Friendly, Tunable OPO Laser

Tunable lasers have proven to be great assets for numerous applications. Various types of laser spectroscopy, and many other scientific applications benefit from the wavelength tunability, narrow linewidths and output power provided by tunable lasers. Tunable OPO lasers provide great benefits for many spectroscopy and other applications, with their small footprint and wide range of wavelength t… Read More

New Dual-Wavelength Raman Probe Enhances Flexibility & Throughput

Raman Spectroscopy has become increasingly popular in recent years. With more demand for this application, some companies have strived to make advancements to the associated technology and hardware, in an effort to provide better results, more throughput, increased flexibility, and a reduction in total footprint of these devices. This Raman Probe provides great flexibility with configurable optics and advanced features like dual-wavelength capability using only one spe… Read More

Custom, Integrated System Platforms for Customer-Specific Applications

In business for over 20 years, with nearly 10,000 units fielded to date, the experts at Bright Solutions provide a world-class level of quality, customer care, and service. Their wealth of knowledge in laser engineering and applications experience has led to the development and continuous improvement of multiple series of high-quality custom DP… Read More

Want to Minimize Your LIDAR Footprint, Cost, and Energy Consumption?

We have written several articles about various forms of LIDAR and the laser requirements needed to ensure a successful application. In this article, we are going to compile and briefly review some of this previously covered material. Then we will cover some benefits of choosing compact fiber lasers over some of the other options for your LIDAR ap… Read More

445nm High-Power Diode Lasers for Micro-Welding Applications

Micro-welding is a high-precision welding method employed to fuse minuscule metal parts or features together. Traditionally, this requires a highly skilled specialist, utilizing a variety of skill sets and knowledge of various materials’ properties, taking into account all of the particular considerations involved in such a precise, delicate process. The Ford company first developed micro-welding to solve the problem of welding materials in a vacuum tube with a high melt… Read More

Laser Diodes for Gas Sensing: Mode-Hop-Free Tunability With High SMSR

Single-frequency lasers have long been the cornerstone of standoff gas detection applications, particularly in traditional LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging), DIAL (Differential Absorption LIDAR), and TDLAS (Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy) applications, where the sample needs to be accurately measured.  More recently, as single-frequency laser diodes have become more common and less expensive, with a larger measurement range and compact size, they are being utilized in more localized and industrial gas sensing app… Read More

Multi-Wavelength Combiners: A Critical Tool for Fluorescence Imaging

Fluorescence imaging is a non-invasive imaging technique that utilizes the mechanism of fluorescence – matter emitting light of a particular wavelength after absorbing photons – which helps visualize biological processes taking place in a living organism. Tissues, cells, and their cellular structures are mostly water, making them transparent and difficult to view with traditiona… Read More

Flow Cytometry: Application Basics, Source Requirements & Solutions

Flow cytometry is a method for simultaneously analyzing multiple physical properties of an individual cell as it flows through a beam of light in a fluid stream, including the cells size and fluorescence.  In practice, flow cytometry is essentially a combination of particle counting and fluorescence spectroscopy. By combining these two techniques flow cytometry can be employed in cell counting, cell sorting, biomarker detection, and protein engineering analyzing thousands of cells per second as they pass through the liqu… Read More

What is a Thin Disk Laser, and What Advantages Do They Offer?

A thin disk laser is a type of diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser technology in which the gain medium is comprised of a thin disk of typically Yb:YAG crystal. The invention of the thin disk laser came in 1991 through collaboration between the German Aerospace Center and a group at the University of … Read More

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Passive vs Active Q-Switching

Q-switching is the most effective method for producing high energy pulsed lasers.  While there are many different varieties of a q-switch, they all follow the same basic operating principle.  Q-switches temporarily increase the cavity losses so that the gain threshold is artificially high preventing the laser from emitting light.  This process allows the population inversion inside of the gain medium to grow until it becomes fully sa… Read More

QCLs & New Low-Cost IR Sensors Open Door for Many OEM Opportunities

Driving a vehicle at night or during foggy conditions can be tricky and dangerous, where poor visibility can cause undue stress or even an accident. These conditions make it more difficult to see upcoming potential obstacles, especially if that obstacle is a deer in a field or a pedestrian in dark clothing at night. However, thanks to newer, more efficient, and cost-effective advancements, we could see more widespread deployment of LIDAR-based automotive detection and warning… Read More

OEM Fiber Lasers for Industrial Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

Industrial laser induced breakdown spectroscopy typically involves the elemental analysis of various metals. In our previous application note titled “Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) in Biomedical Applications,” we discussed the fundamentals of the technique, emphasizing the use of q-switched diode-pumped solid-state lasers as the excitation source. In this blog post, we are going to explore the possibility of utilizing nanosecond pulsed fiber lasers as the excitation source. We will also discuss the pros and cons of that approach, specifically for the characterization of metals and metal… Read More

Microchip Lasers: Fully Integrated Modules for LIDAR & 3D Scanning

Microchip laser technology is a perfect option for various LIDAR-based applications, as well as LIBS, spectroscopy, micromachining, and more. Microchip lasers are typically compact and lightweight, allowing for easier and more efficient integration in airborne and portable, handheld applications, and the laser characteristics are in line with LIDAR requirements for collecting … Read More

Laser Alignment: HeNe Lasers, Methods, and Helpful Tips

Laser alignment can be a challenging task, but aligning a laser beam doesn’t have to be as complicated as it might seem with the right tools and proper techniques. Multiple tried-and-true methods have been developed over the years, utilized by technicians and engineers to simplify the alignment process. With the development of these methods, along with some tips and tricks, you don’t need to be a laser expert to perform your alignments with relative ease, ensuring your laser path is right where you want it to be and your beam is on target e… Read More

Laser Source Requirements for Modern Laser Designator Systems

Combat zones can be extremely chaotic. With a massive influx of sensory input, implementing clear communication, rugged tools, and reliable instrumentation is key to a successful mission. One of the most challenging tasks in any aerial combat situation is determining which assets on the ground to target and which ones to avoid. This determination is particularly challenging when enemy assets are camouflaged or hidden amongst civili… Read More

Replacement Laser for Discontinued Coherent Helios

With the discontinuation of the Coherent Helios laser, some people find themselves having to source a replacement laser before production is stalled. RPMC is here to help alleviate your frustration when trying to source a suitable replacement… Read More

Critical Laser Source Requirements for Laser Target Designation

Combat zones can be extremely chaotic. With a massive influx of sensory input, implementing clear communication, rugged tools, and reliable instrumentation is key to a successful mission. One of the most challenging tasks in any aerial combat situation is determining which assets on the ground to target and which ones to avoid. Because of this challenge, a practice, commonly referred to as “painting the target,” was developed and has been successfully deployed for many years, allowing ground forces to identify and designate targets for successful engagement by aeria… Read More

Gallium Nitride (GaN) Laser Diodes: Green, Blue, and UV Wavelengths

Once thought to be impossible, blue, green and UV laser diodes have now become commonplace.  These lasers are being used in a wide range of applications from blue-ray players to commercial lighting & displays to copper welding.  In this post, we are going to take a look at the underlying material properties of semiconductors, GaN in particular, and how it has led to the development of blue, green and UV las… Read More

Laser Diode Fundamentals: What are Longitudinal Modes?

Laser diodes must meet two critical requirements to facilitate the lasing process. The first requires that, at a minimum, the laser cavity’s gain increases to the point that it reaches unity with the level of losses. This unity state is known as the gain threshold. The second requirement is that there must be a longitudinal mode present inside the optical cavity, coinciding with the laser’s gain curve. This article explores precisely what longitudinal modes are and how they affect the laser diode’s pe… Read More

Peak Power and Average Power in ns and Sub-ns Lasers

A significant and well-recognized difference between lasers and conventional, incoherent light sources, is the ability to concentrate laser emission in short pulses, with durations going down to a few femtoseconds, containing potentially only a few optical cycles. Technically, you can drive an incoherent LED source using current pulses. However, each pulse would have a maximum power (i.e. a peak power) equal to the average power of the same device if a continuous bias were applied. Only laser cavities can concentrate the stored energy within active materials in such a way to achieve peak powers orders of magnitude higher than their ave… Read More

TO-Can Laser Diode Heat Dissipation

When operating a laser diode, proper thermal management is critical to avoid damage. A few key aspects to consider are the generation and dissipation of waste heat, laser diode operating temperature, and proper heatsinking. This article will focus on TO-Can packages, giving consideration to these key aspects and providing useful information for proper thermal m… Read More

What is Single Longitudinal Mode

Within the laser community, one of the most overused and often miscommunicated terms is the phrase “single mode.”  This is because a laser beam when traveling through air takes up a three-dimensional volume in space similar to that of a cylinder; and just as with a cylinder, a laser beam can be divided into independent coordinates each with their own mode structure.  For a cylinder we would call these the length and the cross-section, but as shown in the figure below for a laser beam, we define these as the transverse electromagnetic (TEM) plane and the longitud… Read More

Flexible 210-4500nm ns Laser Family for High Pulse Energy Applications

Quantum Light Instruments’ (QLI’s) main product line is the Quantas Family.  This family of lasers offers compact, air-cooled, high-energy, low rep rate, DPSS lasers at the fundamental wavelengths of 1064 and 1053nm, as well as the less common 1163, 1177, 1300, 1317, 1551 and 1571nm options. They offer standard harmonic wavelengths, through the 5th harmonic (211 and 213nm), with the addition of an external harmonics module. The Quantas Family was designed for a wide range of applications that require high peak power / high ener… Read More