US 11,682,882 B2
Laser system with staircased slow-axis collimators
Wang-Long Zhou, Andover, MA (US); Bryan Lochman, Nashville, TN (US); Bien Chann, Merrimack, NH (US); and Matthew Sauter, Cambridge, MA (US)
Assigned to PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD, Osaka (JP)
Filed by PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD, Osaka (JP)
Filed on Oct. 22, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/507,868.
Application 17/507,868 is a continuation of application No. 16/598,001, filed on Oct. 10, 2019, granted, now 11,183,816.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/745,623, filed on Oct. 15, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0045483 A1, Feb. 10, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H01S 5/40 (2006.01); G02B 27/30 (2006.01); G02B 27/10 (2006.01); H01S 5/02255 (2021.01)
CPC H01S 5/4012 (2013.01) [G02B 27/1086 (2013.01); G02B 27/30 (2013.01); H01S 5/02255 (2021.01); H01S 5/4087 (2013.01)] 30 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A laser system comprising:
a plurality of beam emitters each emitting one or more beams;
a dispersive element for receiving the beams and combining the beams, in a wavelength-beam-combining (WBC) dimension, into a multi-wavelength beam;
a plurality of collimators disposed optically downstream of the beam emitters and optically upstream of the dispersive element, wherein each collimator receives the one or more beams from a beam emitter and collimates the one or more beams in a non-WBC dimension; and
a partially reflective output coupler for receiving the multi-wavelength beam from the dispersive element, transmitting a first portion of the multi-wavelength beam as an output beam, and reflecting a second portion of the multi-wavelength beam back toward the dispersive element,
wherein:
the dispersive element is tilted, in the non-WBC dimension, at a non-zero angle such that first-order reflections of the beams from the dispersive element are directed away from the beam emitters, whereby pointing error is introduced into the multi-wavelength beam, and
optical axes of two or more of the collimators are displaced from each other in the non-WBC dimension, whereby the pointing error arising from the tilted dispersive element is reduced.