PITTSBURGH, Jan. 24, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — II‐VI Incorporated (Nasdaq: IIVI), a leader in high power semiconductor lasers, today announced the introduction of a new generation of pump laser diodes that achieve a high output power of 22 W from a single chip.

Fiber lasers have represented an improved cost of ownership for industrial materials processing over the last several years.  Advances in the power of individual laser diodes further represent a cost advantage in laser systems. II-VI’s new laser diodes achieve 22 W of output power or 22% more than the existing product, enabling fiber laser designs with fewer emitters for applications such as cutting, welding, brazing and laser additive manufacturing.

“The pent up demand for our new laser chips is strong and we’re beginning to ramp up production,” said Karlheinz Gulden, General Manager, II-VI Laser Enterprise. “Customers increasingly rely on II-VI’s innovation in high-power semiconductor laser technology to produce the most competitive fiber lasers in terms of performance, reliability and cost.”

The 22 W pump laser diodes are available at 915 and 976 nm. The laser chips feature a 190 µm wide output facet designed to achieve optimum coupling efficiency into the widely-used 200 µm core fibers. The chips include II-VI’s proprietary E2 front mirror passivation that prevents catastrophic damage to the laser, even at extremely high output powers. The new chip generation successfully completed qualification with 4000 hours of accelerated aging.

II-VI’s pump laser diodes are offered as bare dies, chips on ceramic sub-mount or in fiber-coupled multi-emitter modules. II-VI’s broad portfolio of components for fiber lasers includes seed lasers, acousto-optic modulators, fiber Bragg gratings, kilowatt pump and signal combiners, as well as IBS-coated laser optics and micro-optics for high power isolators.

II-VI will showcase its broad portfolio of engineered materials, lasers and optics, for materials processing, life sciences, consumer electronics and automotive applications at the following upcoming conferences:

• SPIE BIOS Expo, San Francisco, CA, Feb. 2-3, 2019, Booth #8543, on biomedical optics
• SPIE Photonics West, San Francisco, CA, Feb. 5-7, 2019, Booth #1840, on photonics
• EALA – European Automotive Laser Applications 2019, Bad Nauheim, Germany, Feb. 12-13, 2019, Booth #3, on laser-based processes for future car body productions

About II-VI Incorporated

II-VI Incorporated, a global leader in engineered materials and optoelectronic components, is a vertically integrated manufacturing company that develops innovative products for diversified applications in the industrial, optical communications, military, life sciences, semiconductor equipment, and consumer markets. Headquartered in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania, the Company has research and development, manufacturing, sales, service, and distribution facilities worldwide. The Company produces a wide variety of application-specific photonic and electronic materials and components, and deploys them in various forms, including integrated with advanced software to support our customers. For more information, please visit us at www.ii-vi.com.

CONTACT: Mark Lourie
                  Director of Corporate Communications
                  [email protected]
                  www.ii-vi.com/contact-us

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ee0769d9-4845-41ec-bf8a-aebd78e51439