OptiSwitch Technology Corporation (OTC), a provider of miniature high current pulsed laser diode drivers for defence and commercial applications, has introduced an ultra-compact pulsed 120 amp laser diode driver for man-portable target designation, rangefinding, illumination, and remote sensing.
OTC's pulser technology was rapidly developed in the past several years with funding in part through highly successful contracts with the US Army, Navy, Air Force, and DARPA. The OTC technology is being commercialised in a series of products that together comprise the PLDD product family. Commercialisation of this technology offers defence and commercial customers a cost effective, compact OEM driver with high efficiency and minimal battery consumption. The driver’s peak current, pulse length, and rep rate have been chosen specifically to match the needs of 808nm diode laser bars which are used to pump solid state lasers.
The first in this series, the PLDD-120 delivers 120 amps of peak current for 300ms to a laser diode bar at a 1 Hz repetition rate. The PLDD-120 weighs only 15.2g and is only 2.1 x 0.75 x 0.78 inches in dimension. It is designed to operate from a single DL123 battery or equivalent.