Patent ID: 9711942
Date: 2017-07-18
CPC Classifications: G02F,H01S

Claim:
1. A laser apparatus comprising: a semiconductor laser of which a drive condition is controlled according to a plurality of types of drive currents; a controller configured to control the drive condition such that a sum of the drive currents is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, and to control the drive condition to increase one or more of the drive currents when one or more of the other drive currents is decreased; a thermoelectric cooler configured to control a temperature of the semiconductor laser at a setting temperature; and a temperature sensor configured to detect an environmental temperature at which the semiconductor laser operates, wherein the semiconductor laser includes a semiconductor amplification region configured to amplify a light beam emitted from a gain region of the semiconductor laser, the plurality of types of drive currents includes a first drive current for the thermoelectric cooler and a second drive current for the semiconductor amplification region, the control of the drive condition includes temperature control performed by the thermoelectric cooler to control the temperature of the semiconductor laser at the setting temperature, and the temperature control is performed such that a sum of the first and second drive currents is equal to or less than the threshold value according to the environmental temperature detected by the temperature sensor.