[labnetwork] Fianium WhiteLase SC-400-4 supercontinuum fiber laser…4 W

[Johnson, Michael W]

The report that I got from the student was initially an intermittent electrical turn on that progressed to no electrical turn on at all.

-Michael.
________________________________
From: Prashant Srinivasan <prashant at ucsb.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, December 3, 2025 10:08 AM
To: Johnson, Michael W <mjohnso6 at tulane.edu>; labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu <labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] Fianium WhiteLase SC-400-4 supercontinuum fiber laser…4 W


External Sender. Be aware of links, attachments and requests.

Hi Michael,


 Do you mean intermittent electronic turn-on, or intermittent optical power? A SCL is a multi-stage system. Typically looks like this:


Seed laser (say 1550 nm) -->Pre-Amp-->Bandpass filter-->High power Isolator-->Double clad power Amp-->Nonlinear fiber for SC generation


Each amplifier stage is pumped by another laser diode (say 980nm) and should have active back-reflection monitoring. The laser will not fire if there is no seed light. Please email pictures of the insides when you get a chance.


On 12/3/2025 7:45 AM, Johnson, Michael W wrote:
It worked fine optically until the problem started.

Problem started with it would power up briefly and then quickly go dark. Grad student bought a replacement power supply in hopes that this would solve the issue. This did not provide improvement. Now the behavior is worse in that laser is completely unresponsive. Totally dark.
Could be as simple as loose wire inside head where DC power comes in. Could be a bad board. Could be a failed capacitor somewhere in it. Going on 12 years old.

I will likely open it up in the next week to investigate.

The cord between power supply and laser head has two larger conductors for DC power and 5 smaller conductors. I would like to know if there is a logic connection between head and power supply via these smaller wires or if the power supply is "dumb".
Do these smaller wires perform any function or is this 7 pin (or 2 +5 pin) connector some interesting standard that I have not before encountered?

This problem just fell in my lap yesterday.

-Michael.
________________________________
From: Prashant Srinivasan <prashant at ucsb.edu><mailto:prashant at ucsb.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, December 3, 2025 9:25 AM
To: labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu> <labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu><mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>; Johnson, Michael W <mjohnso6 at tulane.edu><mailto:mjohnso6 at tulane.edu>
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] Fianium WhiteLase SC-400-4 supercontinuum fiber laser…4 W



External Sender. Be aware of links, attachments and requests.

What is wrong with it? What are the symptoms? Issue with the driver (electronics), burnt fiber, dead pump diode?


On 12/2/2025 3:41 PM, Johnson, Michael W wrote:
Does anyone have a repair option for a 2014 vintage NKT Photonics Fianium WhiteLase SC-400-4 supercontinuum fiber laser…4 W?

The manufacturer has done an end of life on it and will no longer support it. Obsolete.

Sometimes these companies have ex employees that open a shop to service older gear.

Can't get schematics from the company.

Any leads would be appreciated.

-Michael.
Tulane University
TINI





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--
Prashant Srinivasan,
Teaching Cleanroom Manager
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of California Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
https://www.ece.ucsb.edu/department-resources/electronics-shop/tcr

--
Prashant Srinivasan,
Teaching Cleanroom Manager
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of California Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
https://www.ece.ucsb.edu/department-resources/electronics-shop/tcr
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