Laser diode drive circuit
AssigneeMurata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
InventorsShota Ando, Naomi Takimoto
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A laser diode drive circuit is provided that includes a plurality of laser diodes having cathode sides connected in common, a capacitor that supplies a current to the laser diodes, and a switching element. The laser diode drive circuit further includes a driving power supply that supplies a current to the capacitor, a diode that restricts a flow of the current in a direction of charging of the capacitor, and current suppression elements provided on anode sides of the plurality of laser diodes, respectively, the current suppression elements suppressing a flow of the current that flows to one laser diode to another laser diode in discharging of the capacitor.
Claims20
A laser diode drive circuit comprising:
- a plurality of laser diodes each having cathodes connected in common;
- a driving capacitor connected in series to the plurality of laser diodes and configured to supply a current to each of the plurality of laser diodes;
- a driving switching element connected in series to the driving capacitor and configured to switch between an ON state in which a current is supplied to the plurality of laser diodes and an OFF state in which the current is not supplied;
- a driving power supply configured to supply a current to the driving capacitor;
- a restriction element connected in parallel to the plurality of laser diodes and in series to the driving power supply and the driving capacitor, with the restriction element configured to restrict a flow of the current in a direction of charging of the driving capacitor;
- and
- a plurality of current suppression elements disposed on anode sides of the plurality of laser diodes, respectively, with the current suppression elements being configured to suppress a flow of a current that flows, during a discharging of the driving capacitor, between adjacent laser diodes of the plurality of laser diodes that are connected in series to each other.
A laser diode drive circuit comprising:
- a plurality of laser diodes each having respective cathodes connected to one another;
- a driving capacitor connected in series to the plurality of laser diodes and configured to supply a current thereto;
- a plurality of driving switching elements configured to drive the plurality of laser diodes, respectively, between an ON state and an OFF state;
- a driving power supply configured to supply a current to the driving capacitor;
- a restriction element connected in parallel to the plurality of laser diodes for restricting a flow of current in a direction of charging of the driving capacitor;
- and
- a plurality of current suppression elements disposed on anode sides of the plurality of laser diodes, respectively, to suppress a flow of a current that flows, during a discharging of the driving capacitor, from a first laser diode of the plurality of laser diodes to a second laser diode of the plurality of laser diodes that is connected in series to the first laser diode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.