East Granby, CT firm Nufern, the largest independent manufacturer of fiber laser and amplifier modules and specialty optical fiber, is being awarded a $25 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for high power/ high energy fiber laser applications.
Nufern will provide research and development to design, develop, fabricate and test fiber and fiber components through to August 2011. Solicitation began July 2004, and negotiations were completed March 2005. The Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base, NM issued the contract (FA9451-05-D-0218).
In general fiber lasers are several orders of magnitude more efficient than conventional lasers, can be pumped by laser diodes, and can easily operate in a single spatial mode. For these reasons fiber lasers can be considered as compact solid state lasers of high efficiency and good beam quality. Applications include laser spectroscopy, medicine, laser displays, undersea communication, and high density data storage.