Optical waveguides – With disengagable mechanical connector – Optical fiber to a nonfiber optical device connector
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-21
2001-07-03
Kim, Robert H. (Department: 2877)
Optical waveguides
With disengagable mechanical connector
Optical fiber to a nonfiber optical device connector
C385S129000, C385S130000, C385S132000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06254287
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a laser component having at least one laser array and an optical device for shaping laser rays emitted by the laser array, particularly by a laser diode bar that comprises at least two individual laser beams with the same beam direction and with beam axes proceeding essentially parallel to one another and lying in a single common plane and having a first spacing from one another. The optical device comprises a deflection mirror following the laser array in the beam direction that deflects the individual laser beams with the respectively same rotational sense as well as parallel and perpendicular to the common plane.
German 195 11 593 discloses a laser diode bar that is followed in the beam direction by a transparent mirror block fashioned of one piece for shaping the emitted ray beams. The mirror row is composed of a plurality of reflection faces, which are arranged in a common plane, lie parallel to one another and are fashioned in a mirror block. The reflection faces are offset relative to one another perpendicular to the beam direction by the spacing between the individual laser beams. The reflection faces are oblique relative to the beam direction so that they deflect the individual laser beams by 90° parallel to the common plane and, simultaneously, out of this plane at an angle greater than 0°.
The manufacture of such a transparent block requires high precision and is therefore connected with great technological cost. Considerable radiation losses also occur in the mirror block given inadequate precision in the manufacture of the reflection faces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to develop a laser component of the above-noted type that is technologically simpler to manufacture and simultaneously exhibits comparatively low radiation losses.
This object is achieved by a component having a laser array and an optical device for reordering the laser ray beams emitted from the laser array, which has at least two individual laser beams with the same first radiation direction whose beam axes extend essentially parallel to one another and lie in a single common plane and have a first spacing from one another. The optical device comprises a deflection mirror element following the laser array in the radiation direction that will deflect the individual laser beams of the emitted laser ray beam with the respectively same rotational sense as well as parallel to and perpendicular to the common plane, the deflection mirror element comprises a plurality of plane-parallel, radiation-transmissive light waveguide strips joined to form a light waveguide strip stack which strips corresponds in number to the plurality of individual laser beams, the thickness of the light waveguide strips is smaller than the first spacing between the laser beams and the light waveguide strips lie parallel to one another and obliquely relative to the common plane of the emitted individual laser beams, the light waveguide strips, in a first end region, are positioned for the individual laser beams to be coupled through a beam infeed face of the light waveguide strip and are allocated to each of the individual beams, every light waveguide strip comprising a light reflection face that follows the beam infeed face in the radiation direction and intersects the beam axis of the respective laser beam, the reflection faces facing toward a second end region of the allocated light waveguide strips lying opposite the first end and deflecting the individual laser beams to the second end region, and the second end region comprises a beam outfeed face through which the individual beams, in turn, emerge from the light waveguide strip.
Advantageously, the light waveguide stack can be manufactured by first providing a plurality of plane-parallel glass strips of different widths, elongated and transmissive to the individual laser beams that correspond in number to the number of laser beams. These are arranged in a stack with one another so that the longitudinal end faces of the glass strip are offset relative to one another at least along one side, so that the glass strip stack exhibits a stair-step shape. The glass strips are subsequently sawn into narrow strips at an angle of approximately 45° relative to one of the longitudinal end faces.
It is inventively provided in the laser component of the above-mentioned species that the deflection mirror element comprises a plurality of plane-parallel, radiation-transmissive light waveguide strips combined to form a light waveguide strip stack of a number of strips corresponding in number to the plurality of individual laser beams. The thickness of these light waveguide strips is smaller than the first spacing between the individual laser beams. The light waveguide strips lie parallel to one another and obliquely relative to the common plane of the individual laser beams. One light waveguide strip in whose first end region the appertaining individual laser beam is coupled in through a beam infeed face of the light waveguide strip is allocated to each individual laser beam.
Each light waveguide strip comprises a reflection face following the beam infeed face in the radiation direction that intersects the beam axis of the respective individual laser beam. This reflection face extends toward the second end region of the respective light waveguide strip lying opposite the first end region and will deflect the individual laser beam toward the second end region. The second end region comprises a beam outfeed face through which the individual laser beam in turn emerges from the light waveguide strip.
As a result of the beam guidance within the light waveguide strips, the radiation losses in the inventive deflection mirror are clearly lower compared to the traditional devices of the above-mentioned species.
The lateral faces of the light waveguide strips now present parallelograms in a plan view and are provided as reflection faces which can be coated with a reflection-enhancing material before or after sawing. In the above-described case, the short end faces of the light waveguide strips describe an angle of 45° with the sawn surfaces provided as reflection faces.
In order to improve the light-guiding properties of the light waveguide strips, adhesive layers having a lower refractive index than the material of the light waveguide strips are preferably arranged between the light waveguide strips, and these adhesive layers connect the light waveguide strips to one another. Given light waveguide strips of glass, silicone adhesive is preferably employed for the adhesive layers.
In an especially preferred embodiment, the laser array is a laser diode bar that is secured on a carrier plate with a planar mounting surface. A laser beam collimation optics, for example a cylinder lens, is arranged on the mounting surface between the laser diode bar and the deflection mirror element in order to parallelize the individual laser beams emitted by the laser diode bar that are highly divergent perpendicular to the common plane. The light waveguide strip stack has its step edges lying on the mounting surface so that the light waveguide strips lie obliquely relative to the common plane of the individual laser beams.
In an especially preferred development of the laser component, all plane-parallel light waveguide strips are of the same width and same thickness and exhibit a shape of a parallelogram in a plan view. However, the light waveguide strips of the stack have different lengths in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the light waveguide strip stack. The light waveguide strips terminate flush on three sides of the light waveguide strip stack and are arranged above one another so that the light waveguide strip stack exhibits a step-shape on one side. The end faces of the steps, which are fashioned as reflection faces, are offset relative to one another along the longitudinal axis of the light waveguide strip stack by the spacing between the individual laser beams. The end faces of the strips lying opposite
Acklin Bruno
Groetsch Stefan
Spaeth Werner
Wicke Markus
Kim Robert H.
Schiff & Hardin & Waite
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Stafira Michael P.
LandOfFree
Laser component with a laser array and method for... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Laser component with a laser array and method for..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Laser component with a laser array and method for... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2554158