High brightness multijunction diode stacking

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9705289-B2
Application number	US-201514984602-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2015
Priority date	Mar 6, 2014
Publication date	Jul 11, 2017
Grant date	Jul 11, 2017

Abstract

An apparatus includes at least one multijunction diode laser situated to emit a plurality of beams along respective mutually parallel propagation axes, each beam having an associated mutually parallel slow axes and associated collinear fast axes, a fast axis collimator situated to receive and collimate the plurality of beams along the corresponding fast axes so as to produce corresponding fast axis collimated beams that propagate along associated non-parallel axes, and a reflector situated to receive the plurality of fast axis collimated beams and to reflect the beams so that the reflected fast axis collimated beams propagate along substantially parallel axes.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising: a first multijunction diode laser comprising a plurality of stacked active junctions spaced apart from one another, said first multijunction diode laser being situated to emit a first pair of beams along respective first parallel propagation axes, the beams of the first pair of beams having first respectively parallel slow axes and a first common fast axis; a first fast axis collimator situated to receive and collimate the first pair of beams along their common fast axis so as to produce a corresponding pair of first fast axis collimated beams that propagate along first respective non-parallel propagation axes; and a first reflector situated to receive and reflect the first pair of fast axis collimated beams so that the reflected beams propagate along altered first respective non-parallel axes in a new direction, wherein the beams of the first pair of fast axis collimated beams substantially overlap in the first common fast axis at the first reflector.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising at least one slow axis collimator situated between the first fast axis collimator and the first reflector to receive and collimate the first pair of beams in their respective slow axes.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein upon reflection of the first pair of beams by the first reflector the beams have a pointing difference substantially the same as before being reflected and a substantially common fast axis.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , further comprising an objective situated with respect to the first reflector so as to receive and focus the beams of the first pair of beams at a substantially common focal plane.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein images of each of the beams of the first pair of beams are produced by the objective substantially within the optical aperture of an optical fiber.

6. The apparatus of claim 3 , further comprising: a second multijunction diode laser comprising a plurality of stacked active junctions spaced apart from one another, said first multijunction diode laser being situated to emit a second pair of beams along respective second parallel propagation axes, the beams of the second pair of beams having second respectively parallel slow axes and a second common fast axis; a second fast axis collimator situated to receive and collimate the second pair of beams along their common fast axis so as to produce corresponding pair of second fast axis collimated beams that propagate along second respective non-parallel propagation axes; a second reflector situated to receive and reflect the second pair of fast axis collimated beams so that the reflected beams propagate along altered second respective non-parallel propagation axes in said new direction; and at least one slow axis collimator situated between the first fast axis collimator and the first reflector to receive and collimate the first pair of beams in their respective slow axes, wherein the beams of the second pair of fast axis collimated beams substantially overlap in the common fast axis at the second reflector and upon reflection the beams of the second pair of beams have substantially the same fast axis as the first pair of beams.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising an objective situated with respect to the first reflector and the second reflector to receive and focus the first and second pairs of beams at a substantially common focal plane.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein images of each of the beams of the first pair of beams and the second pair of beams are produced by the objective substantially within an entrance aperture of the core of an optical fiber.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein beams from corresponding emitters of said first laser diode and said second laser diode substantially overlap within said entrance aperture.

10. A method, comprising: causing a first pair of beams to be emitted from a first multijunction diode laser along respective first parallel propagation axes, the first multijunction diode laser comprising a plurality of stacked active junctions spaced apart from one another, the beams of the first pair of beams having first respectively parallel slow axes and a first common fast axis; causing the beams of the first pair of beams to be collimated along their common fast axis at a first fast-axis collimation location so as to produce a corresponding pair of first fast axis collimated beams that propagate along first respective non-parallel propagation axes; and causing the first pair of fast axis collimated beams to be reflected at a first reflection location so that the reflected beams propagate along altered first respective non-parallel propagation axes in a new direction, wherein the beams of the first pair of fast axis collimated beams substantially overlap in the first common fast axis at the first reflection location.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising: causing a second pair of beams to be emitted from a second multijunction diode laser along respective second parallel propagation axes, the second multijunction diode laser comprising a plurality of stacked active junctions spaced apart from one another, the beams of the second pair of beams having second respectively parallel slow axes and a second common fast axis; causing the beams of the second pair of beams to be collimated along their common fast axis at a second fast-axis collimation location so as to produce a corresponding pair of second fast axis collimated beams that propagate along respective second non-parallel propagation axes; causing the second pair of fast axis collimated beams to be reflected at a second reflection location so that the reflected beams propagate along altered second respective non-parallel propagation axes in said new direction wherein the beams of the second pair of fast axis collimated beams substantially overlap in the second common fast axis at the second reflection location; and causing the beams of the second pair of beams to be collimated along their respective slow axes at a location between the second fast-axis collimation location and the second reflection location.

12. An apparatus, comprising: a first multijunction diode laser comprising a plurality of stacked active junctions spaced apart from one another, said first multijunction diode laser being situated to emit a first pair of beams along respective first parallel propagation axes, the beams of the first pair of beams having first respectively parallel slow axes and a first common fast axis; a first fast axis collimator situated to receive and collimate the first pair of beams along their common fast axis so as to produce a corresponding first pair of first substantially separated fast axis collimated beams that propagate along first respective non-parallel propagation axes; at least one first reflector situated to receive and reflect one beam of the first pair of fast axis collimated beams so as to propagate in a new direction while allowing another beam of the first pair of beams to pass thereby; and another first reflector situated to receive and reflect the other beam of the first pair of beams so as to propagate in the same new direction as the one beam, the resulting fast axes of the beams of the first pair of beams being separate but substantially parallel to one another, wherein the one beam and the other beam have a substantial pointing difference just prior to reflection by the one first reflector and the other first reflector respectively, but are rendered substantially parallel to one another upon reflection of both beams.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a beam combiner for receiving the one and the othe

Assignees

• Nlight Inc

Inventors

• Kanskar Manoj
• Price Raymond Kirk
• Small Jay
• Hemenway David Martin
• Chen Zhigang

Classifications

• G02B5/10

  with curved faces · CPC title

• H01S5/4012 Primary

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

• H01S5/02248

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G02B5/09

  Multifaceted or polygonal mirrors {, e.g. polygonal scanning mirrors; Fresnel mirrors} · CPC title

• H01S3/08059

  Constructional details of the reflector, e.g. shape (mirrors in general G02B5/08; mountings for mirrors G02B7/18) · CPC title