Light beam combining method and apparatus

Abstract

A plurality of light beams emitted by a plurality of light sources are combined together to obtain a power-multiplication effect of the beams by use of a holographic diffraction grating. The holographic diffraction grating diffracts a plurality of light beams incident thereto into such directions that the diffracted light beams advance in parallel to one another or are collimated, advance toward a point or converge, or advance as if they were emitted from a point or diverge so that the diffracted light beams can be focused to a point by use of or without a focusing optical system to multiply the power of the beams in effect. The holographic diffraction grating may be of area division type which diffracts the light beams at different portions thereof or of a multiple type which diffracts the light beams at the same portion thereof. By the former type holographic diffraction grating a single combined light beam in which the original light beams are fully merged into a single light beam is obtained, and by the latter type grating the original light beams are diffracted into collimated, converging or diverging beams.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.