What are the main applications of laser diodes?

Currently, laser diodes are used in a wide range of fields, such as military, medical, and industrial fields.

Applications in the military field:

High-energy laser weapons have become a new type of weapon with direct lethality.

In 2002, the United States successfully mounted a 0.5kW all-solid-state laser on a mobile combat vehicle for military minesweeping. The Zeus minesweeper combat vehicle was popular with the US military for its small size, safety, high mobility, and fast minesweeping speed. Praise. High-power laser weapons have the advantages of high precision, fast speed, low pollution, and flexible maneuverability. They have broad application prospects in the fields of optoelectronic countermeasures, laser soft and hard killing, and laser blindness.

In the military development plan, the US military has formulated a development strategy for high-energy laser weapons on various platforms, including ground-based and space-based high-energy laser weapons development plans, ship-borne high-energy laser weapons development plans, and airborne high-energy laser weapons development plans. The US Air Force’s airborne laser technology and the Army’s mobile tactical high-energy laser program are both optimistic about diode-pumped lasers, and set the stage goal of 20kW first, and then achieve the goal of 100kW. At present, our country is also actively studying the development of military weapons, and has made huge breakthroughs.

Application in the medical field:

Lasers have been widely used in skin cosmetology, stomatology, ENT, surgery, ophthalmology, neurosurgery, and cardiovascular departments.

The advantages of laser treatment equipment are: accurate and controllable, the treated wound has less trauma, less bleeding, non-contact and no infection, and minimal damage to the tissue surrounding the incision. In the future, medical laser equipment will develop in the direction of higher energy, easier operation, more stability, and more precision.

Application in the field of industrial processing:

The applications of DPL in the field of laser processing mainly include laser welding, cutting, rapid prototyping and surface treatment.

The processing industry of many developed countries has entered the era of laser processing. For example, German laser processing equipment has always been in a leading position in the world, especially in the auto parts and automobile manufacturing industries, where laser processing technology is widely used. Ford Motor Company took the lead in introducing the laser welding system into its car assembly line in 1973 and used it for welding car body panels. In Japan, more than 10% of the entire processing and manufacturing industry is laser processing. Nissan uses laser beams to process the surface of the steel plate and then spray paint, which not only improves the gloss of the car body surface, but also prevents the paint from falling off.

Ford Motor Company of the United States, Fiat Automobile Company of Italy, General Motors Company, etc. all use laser systems in the cutting and welding process. At present, carbon dioxide lasers and lamp-pumped solid-state lasers are commonly used in high-power laser processing. Due to price constraints, the application of high-power all-solid-state lasers has just started. Domestic high-power lasers used in industrial processing started late, but they are developing rapidly. The use of high-power all-solid-state lasers in industrial processing will bring huge economic and social benefits, and greatly enhance the international competitiveness of my country's industrial processing. Because in the manufacturing process of ships such as warships, aircraft carriers, and submarines, it is necessary to cut, weld, and surface-treat thick steel plates of various complex shapes.