Technology Update
January/February 2002
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Laser developments
 New developments from Haas-Laser are the diode-pumped rod system and the diode-pumped disk laser. |
Haas-Laser, a producer of diode-pumped solid-state lasers, has now introduced the diode-pumped rod system and the diode-pumped disk laser for use in the aerospace industry. The laser uses a combination of two entirely different lasers—a solid-state type and a semiconductor or diode type.
Haas-Laser says that although semiconductor (diode) lasers are highly efficient, their beam quality is not usually good enough for cutting or welding metal. But if a diode laser is combined with a solid-state laser, the efficiency of the solid-state is increased "several times over, with the benefit of constant beam quality," says the company, which has developed a product family of diode-pumped rod lasers of up to 6 kW output. The excitation of the rods via laser diodes increases machine efficiency by more than 10%.
The new disk laser is based on what Haas-Laser describes as an "entirely new principle" in combination with a diode laser. A disk instead of a rod is used as the laser medium. The disk laser has practically no thermal lensing. Its beam quality allows output power to be scaled via fiber bundles. Compared to the rod laser, a much higher power scalability is possible.
- Stuart Birch
Power line detection from Safe Flight
Safe Flight Instrument Corp. has received an FAA Supplemental Type Certificate for its Powerline Detection System, a device developed to prevent power line wire strikes by helicopters.
Wire strikes are one of the greatest hazards to civil and military helicopter operations. Although pilots are taught to be aware of both charted and uncharted wires, strikes occur occasionally.
The Powerline Detection System is designed to sense the electromagnetic field radiating from power lines and warn pilots once their helicopter is in the vicinity of a live wire. When an electromagnetic field is sensed, the system emits an auditory alert, which clicks like a Geiger counter, through the helicopter's audio system. A red warning light illuminates on the cockpit indicator. The audio warning increases in frequency as the helicopter gets closer to a live power line, indicating the helicopter's changed proximity to the power line. The system can provide warning of a sensed live power line from any direction.
- Frank Bokulich
