Nextreme Thermal Solutions has demonstrated the cooling of a laser diode in a TO-8 package using an embedded thin-film thermoelectric OptoCooler HV14 module. Cooling the laser improves the output performance and reliability of the device.
To illustrate the benefits for cooling a laser with an embedded thermoelectric cooler (TEC), Nextreme mounted a laser diode on the active side of an OptoCooler HV14 TEC in a TO-8 package. At 85°C, the HV14 module can pump 1.7 watts of heat in a footprint of less than 3mm². The TEC can create a temperature differential (ΔT) of up to 50°C between its hot and cold sides.
As 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 approximately 21°C in milliseconds and the output level of the laser nearly doubled from 0.38mW to 0.74mW at a drive current of 100mA. An optical spectrum analyzer measured a wavelength shift toward the blue spectrum of approximately 13.6nm.
