Low cost optical pump laser package

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10283939-B2
Application number	US-201715849057-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2017
Priority date	Dec 23, 2016
Publication date	May 7, 2019
Grant date	May 7, 2019

Abstract

Laser diode packages include a rigid thermally conductive base member that includes a base member surface situated to support at least one laser diode assembly, at least one electrode standoff secured to the base member surface that has at least one electrical lead having a first end and a second end with the first end secured to a lead surface of the electrode standoff, and a lid member that includes a lid portion and a plurality of side portions extending from the lid portion and situated to be secured to the base member so as to define sides of the laser diode package, wherein at least one of the side portions includes a lead aperture situated to receive the second end of the secured electrical lead that is insertable through the lead aperture so that the lid member extends over the base member to enclose the laser diode package.

First claim

We claim:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a laser diode package including a rigid thermally conductive base member that includes a base member surface situated to support at least one laser diode assembly, at least one electrode standoff secured to the base member surface that has at least one electrical lead having a first end and a second end with the first end secured to a lead surface of the electrode standoff, and a lid member that includes a lid portion and a plurality of side portions extending from the lid portion and situated to be secured to the base member so as to define sides of the laser diode package;
wherein at least one of the side portions includes a lead aperture situated to receive the second end of the secured electrical lead that is insertable through the lead aperture so that the lid member extends over the base member to enclose the laser diode package.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one electrode standoff and the at least one electrical lead comprise a first electrode standoff and first electrical lead pair and a spaced apart second electrode standoff and electrical lead pair;
wherein the at least one side portion includes a side portion that includes a first lead aperture corresponding to the first electrical lead and a second lead aperture corresponding to the second electrical lead.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the laser diode package includes an electrically insulating grommet having a ring member defining an aperture situated to receive the second end of the at least one electrical lead;
wherein the grommet is secured to the at least one side portion and the at least one electrical lead at the lead aperture.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the laser diode package further includes an optical output terminal secured to the base member and that includes an optical fiber optically coupled to an interior region of the laser diode package so as to receive laser beams emitted from the at least one laser diode assembly.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the at least one side portion including the lead aperture further includes an output terminal aperture having a shape that corresponds to a shape of the optical fiber output terminal.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the base member includes a plurality of sub-members secured to the base member with each sub-member having a common footprint and defining at least a portion of the base member surface, and with each sub-member situated to receive at least one of the laser diode assemblies so as to provide a laser diode package output power scalability based on the quantity of sub-members;
wherein the at least one electrode standoff is secured to a first sub-member, and the other sub-members include at least one internal electrode standoff electrically coupled within the laser diode package to the at least one electrical lead secured to the at least one electrode standoff.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of sub-members includes a second sub-member with at least one laser diode assembly of the respective first and second sub-members including a plurality of laser diodes situated to emit beams and to form a beam stack propagating in a common direction and having a slow axis of each beam parallel and spaced apart from each other and having a fast axis of each beam aligned with each other;
wherein the common direction of the beams stacks are the same and the beam stacks are combined with a wavelength multiplexer or a polarization multiplexer secured to the first sub-member.

8. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein one or more of the at least one laser diode assemblies includes a plurality of laser diodes situated on separate steps of a mounting block to emit respective laser beams in a first common direction with each laser beam having a slow axis and a fast axis arranged so that the slow axes are parallel and spaced apart and the fast axes are parallel and spaced apart;
wherein the one or more of the at least one laser diode assemblies further includes a plurality of fast axis collimators respectively optically coupled to one of the laser beams to collimate the fast axis, a plurality of slow axis collimators respectively optically coupled to one of the fast axis collimated laser beams to collimate the slow axis, a plurality of turning mirrors respectively optically coupled to one of the fast axis and slow axis collimated laser beams to reflect the beam into a second common direction so that the slow axes are parallel and spaced apart and the fast axes are aligned to form a laser diode assembly beam stack;
wherein the optical output terminal includes one or more focusing optics situated to optically couple the laser diode assembly beam stack into the optical fiber.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein one or more of the at least one laser diode assemblies includes a first laser diode assembly and a second diode assembly with the first common direction of the second diode assembly being opposite to the first common direction of the first laser diode assembly.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the laser diode package further includes an optical output terminal situated to receive laser beams emitted from the at least one laser diode assembly and provide an output for free-space propagation of the laser beams outside of the laser diode package.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the side portions are flexibly secured to the base member at least in part with an epoxy.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the side portions are flexibly secured to the base member at least in part with one or more of an epoxy, a weld, solder, a press-fit, snap-fit, a braze, or a fastener.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the side portions include a first pair of opposite side portions having a first length and a second pair of opposite side portions having a second length greater than the first length and extending perpendicularly to the first length so as to join the first pair at respective ends of the first and second lengths;
wherein epoxy is situated between the base member and the second pair proximate a center portion of the second length and absent from the ends of the second length.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lead aperture extends to an edge of the at least one side portion opposite the lid portion so as to define an open-ended lead aperture.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lid member has a thickness that is selected in relation to the base member so as to reduce a warping of the base member associated with thermal cycling of the laser diode package.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lid member and the base member comprise dissimilar metals with dissimilar coefficients of thermal expansion.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the base member is made of copper or a copper alloy and the lid member is made of aluminum.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lid member is a deep drawn metal blank with the drawn sides corresponding to the plurality of side portions.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lid member is a folded, cast, machined, or 3D printed lid member.

20. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the laser diode assembly include a single, single-emitter laser diode.

21. A method, comprising:
securing at least one electrode standoff to a rigid thermally conductive baseplate member of a laser diode package and securing a first end of at least one electrical lead to the at least one electrode standoff so that the electrical l

Assignees

• Nlight Inc

Inventors

• Dawson David C
• Urbanek Wolfram
• Hemenway David Martin

Classifications

• H01S5/4018

  Lasers electrically in series · CPC title

• H01S5/0071

  for beam steering, e.g. using a mirror outside the cavity to change the beam direction · CPC title

• H01S5/4012

  Beam combining, e.g. by the use of fibres, gratings, polarisers, prisms · CPC title

• H01S5/02216

  Butterfly-type, i.e. with electrode pins extending horizontally from the housings · CPC title

• H01S5/005

  Optical components external to the laser cavity, specially adapted therefor, e.g. for homogenisation or merging of the beams or for manipulating laser pulses, e.g. pulse shaping (H01S5/026, H01S5/18388 take precedence) · CPC title