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US 2015/0085370 A1Published application
Beam-stacking element for diode-laser bar stack
AssigneeCoherent, Inc.
InventorsAndrea CAPRARA, John H. JERMAN
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Optical apparatus includes a diode-laser bar stack having N fast-axis stacked diode-laser bars cooperative with a parallel sided transparent stacking plate. The stacking plate receives N original beams from the N diode-laser bars and converts the N beams to 2N fast-axis stacked beams having one-half of a width the original beams and one-half of a fast-axis spacing between the original beams.
Claims7
Optical apparatus, comprising:
- a plurality N of diode laser-bars characterized as having a slow-axis in a length direction, a fast-axis perpendicular to the slow-axis, and a propagation-axis perpendicular to the slow-axis and the fast-axis, the diode-laser bars stacked one above another in the fast-axis direction with a predetermined pitch P therebetween;
- a plurality N of fast-axis collimating lenses one for each of the diode-laser bars and a plurality N of slow-axis collimating lens arrays, one for each of the diode-laser bars, the diode-lasers bars, fast-axis collimating lenses, and slow-axis collimating lenses providing a plurality N of combined-radiation beams propagating one above another in the fast-axis direction parallel to the propagation-axis direction, each beam having a width W in the slow-axis direction;
- a transparent plate in the path of the combined radiation beams, the transparent plate having a thickness and first and second opposite surfaces parallel to each other, the surfaces inclined to the fast-axis direction at a first angle, and inclined to the slow-axis direction at a second angle, with the first surface of the plate facing the diode-laser bar stack, and with first and second reflective coatings partly covering respectively the first and second surfaces of the plate;
- and
- wherein the first and second reflective coatings are configured and the thickness of the plate and the first and second angles are selected such that the plate transmits 2N combined beams propagating one above another in the fast-axis direction parallel to each other in the propagation-axis direction, each beam having a width less than W in the slow-axis direction, and with the beams spaced apart in the fast-axis direction by a distance of about P/2.
2 more elements
An optical apparatus comprising:
- a stack of elongated laser bars each generating a beam of radiation having a slow axis in the length direction and a fast axis perpendicular thereto;
- a plurality of lenses for collimating the light from the bars in both the fast and slow axis;
- and
- a transparent plate aligned with the bar stack and having opposed input and output surfaces, with the width of the plate being aligned with the slow axis of the stack, with the plate being tilted with respect to the fast axis of the stack and rotated with respect to the slow axis of the stack, said transparent plate having a reflective coating on the output surface thereof extending about halfway across the width of the plate so that about one half the width of each beam is transmitted past said reflective coating with the other half width of the beams being reflected towards the input surface of the plate both downwardly and to the side in the width direction, said input surface of the plate including an array of reflective strips positioned so that light originally entering the plate from the stack is transmitted through the spaces between the array and wherein light reflected back towards the input surface from the reflective strip is reflected again back towards the output surface and exits the plate interleaved with the portions of the beams originally transmitted past the reflective coating.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.