Quad Flashlamp Driver for Higher Repetition Rates and Average Power
Flashlamp power supplies, using Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) switches to vary pump current pulse width and energy, have been in the market for decades with only incremental improvements in IGBT and gate drive circuits.
High voltage power electronics have advanced in large part due to the demand for electric vehicles (EVs). Technological improvements in silicon carbide (SiC) transistors and the high volume needed in the automotive industry have led to improvement in reliability and performance as well as significant cost savings in power semiconductors.
Recently, laser applications in fields such as urology have increased output energy and power requirements – requiring multiple laser driver units and power modules per system. This results in increased space claim and cost, while reducing reliability.
MegaWatt Lasers (MWL) has contracts requiring higher repetition rate and higher average power laser systems, which necessitates a more advanced laser and flashlamp driver. For applications in urology, the laser output of four laser resonators is often beam combined. This requires four (4) individual channels as well as a 4 kW capacitor charger. The quad laser driver was designed to meet these requirements in a compact integrated package.
MWL recently developed this quad driver for medical and defense applications, but it is also suited for scientific and industrial applications, including multi-lamp pump chamber and/or MOPA systems.
MWL’s paper entitled “Quad Flashlamp Driver” explains the development of this advanced driver.
About MegaWatt Lasers
MegaWatt Lasers (MWL) provides solid-state laser consulting, R&D, and manufacturing capabilities. The company manufactures best-in-class laser pump chambers for a variety of applications covering all solid-state wavelengths. These pump chamber designs provide unsurpassed performance, reliability, and leak integrity to meet the demanding needs of your laser system design. Through many years of experience, they have optimized their pump chamber designs to provide features such as high efficiency diffuse reflectors and symmetric radial cooling. MWL specializes in eye-safe laser technology. They maintain an inventory of standard pump chambers for immediate delivery, while modular design allows for cost-effective, custom solutions.
Their products include:
- Pump Chambers
- Resonators
- Diode-Pumped, Solid-State Lasers
- Drivers and Electronics
- Application-Specific Lasers
- Laser Components
- Laser Rods
- Laser Optics
- Laser Flashlamps
- Laser Trigger Transformers
For more information about products from MegaWatt Lasers, contact IL Photonics.