Elimination of deionized cooling water requirement for microchannel-cooled laser diode arrays

Northrop Grumman/Cutting Edge Optronics has developed three designs for microchannel-cooled laser diode arrays in which the coolant is electrically isolated from the current path. As a result, these arrays do not require the use of deionized water. The thermal performance of two of these designs is presented and, in one case, shown to far exceed the performance of standard copper microchannel-cooled packages. Also presented is a microchannel cooler made from ceramic material. This design leverages existing technology to create a low-cost, high-performance alternative to copper-based microchannel coolers. This approach offers the greatest promise for future development due to the vast assortment of existing capabilities that have already been developed for similar ceramic structures used in the electronics industry.