Larry J Marshall

US Patent:

56639791, Sep 2, 1997

Filed:

Nov 22, 1995

Appl. No.:

8/562297

Inventors:

Larry R. Marshall - Acton MA

Assignee:

Light Solutions Corporation - Mountain View CA

International Classification:

H01S 308

US Classification:

372103

Abstract:

A laser diode package couples laser diode outputs into a plurality of fibers, and these are bundled and brought to an output face that produces a divergent composite beam from the fiber ends. The beam end pumps a solid-state laser across a gap, and the divergence allows a wide tolerance in alignment of the pump and crystal. Preferably, one cavity mirror is a focusing mirror that reconcentrates residual pump light in the desired mode. In a preferred embodiment, the output face of the package is at a short stub or ferrule that provides a simple and effective pump beam centering alignment. The solid-state laser may be a rod or crystal and is preferably sufficiently short, in relation to pump beam diameter and divergence in the rod, that the pump beam within the rod lies in the TEM. sub. OO mode volume of the laser cavity. A concave mirror then refocuses residual pump light back into that mode.