APEquamm provides a large range of high power diode laser optics for diode bar and diode stack correction applications.
1 Slow Axis Collimators
The slow axis collimators (SAC) are used to reduce the slow axis divergence of diode lasers. They consist of a monolithic array of cylindrical lenses to simplify system alignment, and are available in a range of standard focal lengths and pitch combinations. As well as offering compatibility with many different laser bars and stacks, using our unique laser micro-machining process means that additional functionality can easily be added to the SAC at minimal cost as part of our customization program. Customization options can include correction for bar smile or custom pitch, focal length and conic constant.
The slow axis collimators with smile correction (SmileSAC) are used to simultaneously reduce the slow axis divergence and smile error of a diode laser bar. The SmileSACs consist of a monolithic array of cylindrical lenses with additional smile error correction in a single optic. They are available in a range of standard focal lengths, pitch combinations and smile error correction options. Standard products have parabolic smile correction, but they can be specified with custom pointing error correction for each emitter.They are compatible with different laser bars and stacks, and can be specified in systems with consistent smile errors, selected at production test or individually customized per bar.
We provides a range of smile correctors for laser diode bar and stack applications. These innovative products remove the effects of “smile” error on the collimated beam. Standard products have parabolic smile correction, but can be specified with custom pointing error correction for each emitter.The “smile” effect, caused by CTE mismatch during solder bonding, prevents the fast axis collimation (FAC) lens being correctly positioned for all points along the bar, resulting in beams with variable pointing direction. This increases overall fast-axis divergence, and can have a severely detrimental impact on VBG locking efficiency and locking range. The smile correction value is marked on the optic for easy identification for select on test in production.The Smile Correctors remove the impact of these degradations resulting in a dramatic improvement in laser performance.
The High Power Diode Correction Phaseplates null the laser beam wavefront error, restoring the intrinsic ex-facet brightness of the laser beam. These products provide near-diffraction limited performance in fast-axis collimated beams by decreasing beam divergence, improving beam homogeneity and coupled power, and increasing laser beam brightness by between 2 and 10 times.Our Diode Correction Phaseplates compensate for smile errors due to emitter pointing variation, defocus and higher-order wavefront errors, and align all bars to a common boresight direction, resulting in a high-brightness beam with consistent pointing and divergence. Far field image data is processed remotely to create individually serialized optics that perfectly match the bar or stack.The resulting collimation performance gives exceptionally well-controlled feedback in grating-stabilized applications resulting in high locking efficiency, increased locking range and predictable performance build after build.
The fast axis collimator arrays (FAC) is designed to interface to complete laser diode stacks. They allow the entire diode stack output to be collimated with a single element, providing an ultra-compact and robust solution that radically simplifies the cost and time of assembly of the complete system. The FAC array can either be specified with a standard bar pitch or, for optimal performance, matched to the diode bar stack using bar pitch data provided by the customer. As a further optimization, we offers customers the ability to customize the FAC array to tailor the far field profile to meet specific application requirements.
