Alfalight Selected by DARPA for Super High Efficiency Diode Sources -- SHEDS -- Program.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers MADISON, Wis adv. 1. Certainly; really; indeed. v. t. 1. To think; to suppose; to imagine; - used chiefly in the first person sing. present tense, I wis. See the Note under Ywis. .--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 6, 2003 Madison-based Firm to Target 80% Electrical-to-Optical Power Conversion Efficiency for Semiconductor Diode Lasers See laser diode. Alfalight, Inc. (Alfalight), an innovative technology manufacturer of highly efficient, reliable high-power diode lasers, today announced that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), U.S. government agency administered by the Department of Defense (see Defense, United States Department of). (DARPA DARPA: see Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) The name given to the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency during the 1980s. It was later renamed back to ARPA. ), the central research and development organization for the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. Department of Defense, has awarded Alfalight $3.9 million in Research and Development funding under the DARPA Super High Efficiency Diode Source (SHEDS) program, with options that could result in a total $5.3 million award. The SHEDS program will investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in semiconductor diode laser bar efficiency. SHEDS: 80% Electrical-to-Optical Efficiency in 36 Months Currently, diode bar-pumped solid state laser systems have an overall electrical-to-optical power conversion efficiency, or "wall plug" efficiency, as low as 10%. This means that a 100kW laser, for example, would require 1,000kW of electrical power and would produce 900kW of heat. This heat significantly limits system performance and reliability. The wall plug efficiency of the semiconductor diode lasers used in this type of system is the largest contributor to overall system wall plug efficiency, and improving the efficiency of the semiconductor diode laser will greatly increase the possible output power and reliability of these laser systems. Alfalight's Aluminum Free Active-region (ALFA) diode laser bars currently achieve over 50% wall plug efficiency, which represents the best efficiency in the industry today. The goal of the SHEDS program is to increase diode laser wall plug efficiency to 65% in the first 18 months of the project, with a target of 80% in the following 18 months. "Alfalight has already dedicated significant research and development resources toward improving diode laser efficiency, and DARPA's SHEDS program is the ideal opportunity for us to take our technology to the next level," said Tom Earles, co-founder and chief technical officer of Alfalight. "Funding from DARPA will enable us to enhance our technology to build better diode laser products for the defense industry." "I am very pleased to see a local Wisconsin Wisconsin, state, United States Wisconsin (wĭskŏn`sən, –sĭn), upper midwestern state of the United States. It is bounded by Lake Superior and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, from which it is divided by the Menominee firm selected for this research and development contract," said U.S. Rep (programming) REP - A directive used in IBM object code card decks (and later PTF Tapes) to REPlace fragments of already assembled or compiled object code prior to link edit. . Tammy Baldwin Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin (born February 11, 1962), American politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1999, representing Wisconsin's At-large congressional district (map). (D-WI). "I know Alfalight and its capabilities, and also understand the critical need to increase efficiencies in both diode lasers and their manufacture. Alfalight and its employees should be very proud of their cutting-edge technology that allowed them to win this contract. Wisconsin's high technology industry is growing, and Alfalight is helping lead the way." About Alfalight Alfalight Inc. is a worldwide technology innovator and an original equipment manufacturer (OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and ) of highly efficient, reliable, high-powered diode laser solutions for industrial, defense, and telecommunications Communicating information, including data, text, pictures, voice and video over long distance. See communications. applications. The Madison, Wis.-based company was founded in November of 1998 with technologies developed at the Reed Center of Photonics, an engineering research center at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. These patented technologies are based upon the use of Aluminum Free Active-region (ALFA) diode lasers. Alfalight has exclusive licenses to pending laser patents for high-powered narrow spectral-width lasers, single mode lasers and short wavelength lasers, covering wavelengths from 700nm to 1.6um. Alfalight's current high-powered diode laser products include multi-mode bar and single emitter One side of a bipolar transistor. See collector. lasers. For more information, visit www.alfalight.com. About DARPA The DARPA mission is to develop imaginative, innovative and often high-risk research ideas offering a significant technological impact that will go well beyond the normal evolutionary developmental approaches; and, to pursue these ideas from the demonstration of technical feasibility through the development of prototype systems. |
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