High-Power Laser Diode Driver With Parallel Connection Capability

A Finnish company, Granite Devices, has released a new kind of high-power laser diode driver for original equipment manufacturer (OEM) market. Intensify Nx50 has a parallel connection capability to scale up continuous and pulsed output current rating to 150 amperes (A) and beyond.

Intensify Nx50 accepts standard 12 volts direct current (VDC) input voltage while output current is adjustable from 0 A to 50 A per Nx50 device. Maximum output voltage of 5.0 V allows driving up to two laser diodes in a series connection.

Intensify is one of the first laser diode drivers employing high-frequency three-phase switching converter to minimise output ripple and physical size. Due to this construction, Nx50 yields an efficiency of 96%, according to the company, thus eliminating the need for active cooling. Cool running devices also exhibit unforeseen durability of 1.2 million hour mean time between failures (MTBF). The device includes under voltage, over temperature, electro-static discharge (ESD) and laser diode protections as standard features.

The driver is targeted for OEM laser diode applications such as optical pumping, material processing and printing where reliability and cost are critical factors. Intensify is available worldwide through the Granite Devices web shop.