Laser cooling
Nextreme Thermal Solutions says it has cooled a laser diode in a TO-8 package using an embedded thin-film thermoelectric OptoCooler HV14 module.
Cooling improves the output performance and reliability of the laser.
Thermoelectric coolers made from thin films are smaller and thinner than conventional TECs and can be embedded in the smallest of packages. In addition, they have a low mass which enables a more rapid thermal response to changing temperatures.
To illustrate the benefits for cooling a laser with an embedded TEC, Nextreme mounted a laser diode on the active side of an OptoCooler HV14 thermoelectric cooler in a TO-8 package. At 85°C, the OptoCooler HV14 module can pump 1.7 W of heat in a footprint of less than 3 mm2.
The TEC can create a temperature differential of up to 50°C between its hot and cold sides.
As a part of the demonstration, a test bed was assembled to measure the effects of cooling on laser output and wavelength.
When the TEC was turned on, the temperature of the diode quickly dropped from 42°C to about 21°C in milliseconds and the output level of the laser nearly doubled from 0.38 to 0.74 mW at a drive current of 100 mA.
An optical spectrum analyser measured a wavelength shift towards the blue spectrum of about 13.6 nm.
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