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US 8,133,320 B2Granted
Diamond heat sink in a laser
AssigneeApollo Diamond, Inc.
InventorRobert Linares
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A laser has a laser material in thermal contact with a diamond, such that the diamond is operable to carry heat away from the laser material. In further embodiments, the diamond has a reduced nitrogen content, is a reduced carbon-13 content, is a monocrystalline or multilayer low-strain diamond, or has a thermal conductivity of greater than 2200 W/mK.
Claims43
A laser assembly, comprising:
- a laser material comprising at least one of a non-semiconducting solid, a gas, a chemical or other non-semiconductor laser material;
- a diamond in contact with the laser material, the diamond operable to transfer heat from the laser material, wherein the diamond has a thermal conductivity of greater than 2200 W/mK.
A method of constructing a laser assembly, comprising:
- configuring a diamond in contact with a laser material, the diamond operable to transfer heat from the laser material, the laser material comprising at least one of a non-semiconducting solid, a gas, a chemical or other non-semiconductor laser material.
A method of constructing a semiconductor laser, comprising:
- forming an n-type semiconductor in contact with a p-type semiconductor to form a semiconductor p-n junction having a laser active region at the junction;
- and
- coupling at least one layer of diamond to the n-type semiconductor, the p-type semiconductor, or the p-n junction, wherein the diamond has a thermal conductivity of greater than 2200 W/mK;
- wherein the at least one layer of diamond comprises at least one of the p-type material used to form the p-n junction or the n-type material used to form the p-n junction.
1 more element
A method of operating a laser assembly comprising:
- carrying heat away from a laser material via a diamond in thermal contact with the laser material, wherein the diamond has a thermal conductivity of greater than 2200 W/mK, and wherein the laser material comprises at least one of a non-semiconducting solid, a gas, a chemical or other non-semiconductor laser material.
A method of operating a semiconductor laser, comprising:
- cooling a laser active region of a semiconductor p-n junction with at least one layer of diamond coupled to the p-n junction or the laser active region, wherein the diamond has a thermal conductivity of greater than 2200 W/mK, wherein the at least one layer of diamond comprises at least one p-type material used to form the p-n junction, n-type material used to form the p-n junction, and the laser active region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.