High brightness coherent multi-junction diode lasers
AssigneenLIGHT, Inc.
InventorsZhigang Chen, Manoj Kanskar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Laser diodes formed on a common substrate with layers of suitable thickness and refractive indices produce output beams that are coherently coupled. A phase mask can be situated to produce phase differences in one or more of the output beams to produce a common wavefront phase. The phase-corrected beams propagate with reduced angular divergence than conventional lasers that are not coherently coupled, and the coherently coupled laser diodes can provide higher beam brightness, enhanced beam parameter product, and superior power coupled into doped fibers in fiber lasers.
Claims31
A multi-emitter laser diode, comprising:
- a first active region associated with a lasing wavelength situated between an inner waveguide layer and an outer waveguide layer;
- a second active region associated with the lasing wavelength situated between an inner waveguide layer and an outer waveguide layer, wherein the inner waveguide layer of the first active region and the inner waveguide layer of the second active region are situated between the first active region and the second active region, and the first active region and the second active region are situated so that an optical beam propagating in the first active region is optically coupled to the second active region.
An apparatus, comprising:
- at least one coherent multi-junction laser diode;
- and
- a fast axis collimator situated to collimate an output beam along a fast axis;
- and
- a slow axis collimator situated to collimate the output beam along a slow axis.
A method of pumping a fiber laser, comprising:
- producing a coherent beam from a combination of a first optical beam and a second optical beam from a first laser diode and a second laser diode, respectively;
- adjusting a wavefront phase of at least the first optical beam or the second optical beam;
- and
- directing the wavefront phase adjusted beam to a doped optical fiber to produce optical gain in the doped optical fiber.
A method of producing a double-emitter laser diode, comprising:
- defining a first laser diode in at least one or more layers on a substrate;
- forming a tunnel junction adjacent the first laser diode;
- and
- defining a second laser diode in at least one or more layers adjacent the tunnel junction, wherein the first laser diode and the second laser diode are optically coupled so as to produce coherent first and second laser beams.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.