Nlight, Incorporated

Zhigang Chen

Manoj Kanskar

Jay Small

David Martin Hemenway

Shuang Li

Eric Martin

Mark DeFranza

Jim Zhang

Raymond Kirk Price

Jiamin Zhang

Nicolas Biekert

Apparatus include a plurality of laser diodes configured to emit respective laser diode beams having perpendicular fast and slow beam divergence axes mutually perpendicular to respective beam axes, and beam shaping optics configured to receive the laser diode beams and to circularize an ensemble image space and NA space of the laser diode beams at an ensemble coupling plane. In selected examples, beam shaping optics include variable fast axis telescopes configured to provide variable fast axis magnification and beam displacement.

High brightness fiber coupled diode lasers with circularized beams

Apparatus include a transmissive optical substrate configured to receive a plurality of laser beams propagating along respective parallel beam axes at respective initial beam displacements with respect to an optical axis of the transmissive optical substrate, and configured to produce laser output beams having reduced displacements, wherein the transmissive optical substrate includes first and second surfaces with respective first and second curvatures defined to increase an output beam magnification and to nonlinearly increase an output beam displacement from the optical axis for a linearly increasing input beam displacement from the optical axis.

Variable magnification afocal telescope element

Apparatus include a first laser diode situated to emit a beam from an exit facet along an optical axis, the beam as emitted having perpendicular fast and slow axes perpendicular to the optical axis, a first fast axis collimator (FAC) optically coupled to the beam as emitted from the exit facet and configured to direct the beam along a redirected beam axis having a non-zero angle with respect to the optical axis of the first laser diode, a second laser diode situated to emit a beam from an exit facet of the second laser diode along an optical axis parallel to the optical axis of the first laser diode and with a slow axis in a common plane with the slow axis of the first laser diode, and a second fast axis collimator (FAC) optically coupled to the beam as emitted from the exit facet of the second laser diode and configured to direct the beam along a redirected beam axis having a non-zero angle with respect to the optical axis of the second laser diode.

Diode laser apparatus with FAC lens out-of-plane beam steering

A laser diode, comprising a transverse waveguide that is orthogonal to the lateral waveguide comprising an active layer between an n-type waveguide layer and a p-type waveguide layer, wherein the transverse waveguide is bounded by an n-type cladding layer on an n-side and p-type cladding layer on a p-side and a lateral waveguide bounded in a longitudinal direction at a first end by a high reflector (HR) coated facet and at a second end by a partial reflector (PR) coated facet, the lateral waveguide further comprising a buried higher order mode suppression layer (HOMSL) disposed beneath the p-cladding within the lateral waveguide or on one or both sides of the lateral waveguide or a combination thereof, wherein the HOMSL extends in a longitudinal direction from the HR facet a length less than the distance between the HR facet and the PR facet.

Method, system and apparatus for higher order mode suppression

A number of beams that can be coupled into an optical fiber can be increased using emitted beams having greater divergence, thus providing increased beam power. Alternatively, with a fixed number of emitters, total optical power can be maintained with fewer beams in an output beam with a smaller numerical aperture.

Power and brightness scaling in fiber coupled diode lasers using diodes with optimized beam dimensions

Laser diode submounts include a SiC substrate on which a thick conductive layer is supplied to use in mounting a laser diode. The thick conductive layer is typically gold or copper, and can be electrically coupled to a base laser that is used to define laser diode couplings.

CTE-matched silicon-carbide submount with high thermal conductivity contacts

A laser diode vertical epitaxial structure, comprising a transverse waveguide comprising an active layer between an n-type semiconductor layer and a p-type semiconductor layer wherein the transverse waveguide is bounded by a lower index n-cladding layer on an n-side of the transverse waveguide and a lower index p-cladding layer on a p-side of the transverse waveguide, a lateral waveguide that is orthogonal to the transverse waveguide, wherein the lateral waveguide is bounded in a longitudinal direction at a first end by a facet coated with a high reflector (HR) coating and at a second end by a facet coated with a partial reflector (PR) coating and a higher order mode suppression layer (HOMSL) disposed adjacent to at least one lateral side of the lateral waveguide and that extends in a longitudinal direction.

Apparatus comprise a semiconductor waveguide extending along a longitudinal axis and including a first waveguide section and a second waveguide section, wherein a lateral refractive index difference defining the semiconductor waveguide is larger for the first waveguide section than for the second waveguide section, and an output facet situated on the longitudinal axis of the semiconductor waveguide so as to emit a laser beam propagating in the semiconductor waveguide, wherein the first waveguide section is situated between the second waveguide section and the output facet and wherein the lateral refractive index difference suppresses emission of higher order transverse modes in the laser beam emitted by the output facet.

Low divergence high brightness broad area lasers

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.

High brightness coherent multi-junction diode lasers

An apparatus includes at least one multijunction diode laser situated to emit a plurality of beams along respective mutually parallel propagation axes, each beam having an associated mutually parallel slow axes and associated collinear fast axes, a fast axis collimator situated to receive and collimate the plurality of beams along the corresponding fast axes so as to produce corresponding fast axis collimated beams that propagate along associated non-parallel axes, and a reflector situated to receive the plurality of fast axis collimated beams and to reflect the beams so that the reflected fast axis collimated beams propagate along substantially parallel axes.

High brightness multijunction diode stacking

An optical apparatus includes a gain block operable to produce output light at an output wavelength in response to pumping and a resonant grating optically coupled to the gain block and situated to couple the output light at the output wavelength into the gain block and reflect the output light at the output wavelength along an output axis. A method of making a surface emitting laser includes depositing a gain region having one or more quantum wells on a semiconductor substrate, forming a metallic resonant diffraction grating adjacent the gain region, and coupling the gain region and the resonant grating to a thermally conductive substrate.

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Portland, OR, United States of America

Zhigang Chen