Single-FET pulsed laser diode driver

A pulsed laser diode driver comprising:

• a plurality of resonant laser diode driver cells, each resonant laser diode driver cell comprising:
• an inductor having a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal being configured to receive a source voltage;
• a bypass capacitor having a first terminal directly electrically connected to the first terminal of the inductor and a second terminal directly electrically connected to the second terminal of the inductor;
• a laser diode having a cathode that is directly electrically connected to the first terminal of the inductor and an anode that is directly electrically connected to the second terminal of the inductor;
• and
• a bypass switch having a drain node that is directly electrically connected to the second terminal of the inductor and a source node that is directly electrically connected to ground;
• and
• a source capacitor having a first terminal directly electrically connected to the first terminal of each inductor of the plurality of resonant laser diode driver cells to provide the source voltage thereto and a second terminal electrically coupled to ground;
• wherein:
• for each resonant laser diode driver cell of the plurality of resonant laser diode driver cells, the bypass switch is configured to control a current flow through the inductor to produce a high-current pulse through the laser diode, the high-current pulse corresponding to a peak current of a resonant waveform developed at the anode of the laser diode.

A pulsed laser diode driver, comprising:

• a plurality of laser diode driver modules, each laser diode driver module comprising:
• an inductor having a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal being configured to receive a source voltage;
• a source capacitor having a first terminal directly electrically connected to the first terminal of the inductor to provide the source voltage and a second terminal electrically coupled to ground;
• a bypass capacitor having a first terminal directly electrically connected to the first terminal of the inductor and a second terminal directly electrically connected to the second terminal of the inductor;
• a laser diode having a cathode that is directly electrically connected to the first terminal of the inductor and an anode that is directly electrically connected to the second terminal of the inductor;
• and
• a bypass switch having a drain node that is directly electrically connected to the second terminal of the inductor and a source node that is directly electrically connected to ground;
• wherein:
• a respective source capacitor of each laser diode driver module of the plurality of laser diode driver modules is configured to receive the source voltage at the first terminal of that respective source capacitor;
• and
• the bypass switch of each laser diode driver module of the plurality of laser diode driver modules is configured to control a current flow through the inductor of that laser diode driver module to produce a high-current pulse through the laser diode of that laser diode driver module, the high-current pulse corresponding to a peak current of a resonant waveform developed at the anode of that laser diode.