Blue Laser Diode Array Beam Combining for High-Brightness Fiber Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing laser systems face challenges in combining multiple laser beams effectively due to difficulties in beam alignment, maintaining beam quality, and managing power, which limits their utility and commercial applications.
Innovation Solution
The development of an array assembly system that spatially combines individual blue laser beams from multiple laser diode assemblies, using techniques such as polarization beam combining and Raman conversion, to produce a high-brightness, high-power combined laser beam capable of being coupled into an optical fiber, while preserving the beam parameter product and brightness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If multiple laser beams are combined to increase power, then the power output is improved, but beam alignment difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple individual laser beams into a single composite beam using beam combining optics. Multiple laser sources are spatially overlapped and merged to produce one high-power output beam, directly resolving the contradiction by achieving power multiplication while maintaining operational simplicity through integrated optical components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces beam combining optics as an intermediary component between multiple laser sources and the final output. These optical elements (such as dichroic mirrors, polarizing beam splitters, or fiber combiners) act as mediators that automatically align and merge beams, eliminating the need for manual alignment while achieving high power output.
2Power
If multiple laser beams are combined to increase power, then the power output is improved, but beam quality is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple laser beams in a controlled manner using precision optical components that preserve the spatial coherence and quality of individual beams. The beam combining process is designed to maintain the Gaussian profile and other quality metrics while summing the power, thus achieving both high power and high beam quality simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different optical treatment to different regions of the beam combination process. Each individual beam maintains its local quality characteristics through dedicated optical paths, while the overall composite beam achieves high power. The beam combining optics are designed to preserve local beam properties while integrating multiple sources.
3Illumination intensity
If laser diode assemblies are used to provide desirable wavelengths and beam quality, then brightness is improved, but power is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple laser diode assemblies, each providing high brightness at desirable wavelengths, into a single high-power output. By merging several moderate-power, high-brightness beams, the system achieves both the brightness characteristics of individual diodes and the cumulative power of multiple sources, resolving the contradiction between brightness and power.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the high-power laser system into multiple separate laser diode assemblies, each optimized for high brightness and specific wavelength performance. This segmentation allows each unit to maintain superior beam quality while the collective array delivers high total power, thus resolving the contradiction between individual brightness and aggregate power.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system achieves a combined laser beam with power at least 50 times that of individual beams, maintaining beam quality and brightness, and is applicable in various fields including manufacturing, entertainment, and medical applications.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of laser diodes capable of producing an individual blue laser beam
Implementation Method 2
a means for spatially combining the individual blue laser beams to make a combined laser beam
Implementation Method 3
capable of being coupled into a optical fiber for delivery to a target material
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided assemblies for combining a group of laser sources into a combined laser beam. There is further provided a blue diode laser array that combines the laser beams from an assembly of blue laser diodes. There are provided laser processing operations and applications using the combined blue laser beams from the laser diode arrays and modules.