June 09, 2026

Hamamatsu Photonics has successfully achieved world-class quasi-continuous wave output of 2.0 kW from a 1 cm-wide LD bar at room temperature.

This achievement is expected to expand applications of high-power lasers, including industrial laser processing equipment and pump sources for solid-state lasers, as well as enable future deployment in advanced fields requiring high-energy light sources.

This work was conducted under a project commissioned by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) as part of its “NEDO Feasibility Study Program / Frontier Incubation Program.” An LD bar is a light-emitting device formed by arranging multiple LD emitters in an array. Together with stacked configurations known as LD bar stacks, these devices are widely used in industrial applications such as laser processing. In particular, since a large number of LD bars are required for pumping high-power and high-energy solid-state lasers, there is a strong demand for higher output power from individual LD bars.

High-output power LDs are expected not only to enable more compact and energy-efficient laser systems for conventional material processing, but also to contribute to advancements in manufacturing processes for products in advanced fields requiring high-energy light sources, as well as to expand applications in areas such as space and advanced scientific research.

Hamamatsu Photonics have been working to increase the output power of LD bars by optimizing crystal structures, device designs, crystal growth techniques, and assembly technologies. In addition, through commissioned research under the FY2025 NEDO Feasibility Study Program / Frontier Incubation Program, Hamamatsu Photonics have advanced facet treatment technologies to suppress degradation at the LD facets.

As a result, Hamamatsu Photonics achieved a peak output of 2.0 kW under quasi-continuous wave (QCW) operation at room temperature from a 1 cm-wide single-junction LD bar.

To the best of Hamamatsu Photonics knowledge, this exceeds the previous record of 1.9 kW at room temperature reported by a German research institute in 2022, representing a world-record level achievement.

Going forward, Hamamatsu Photonics will build on this result and accelerate R&D of multi-junction LD bars to achieve even higher output power.