Patent ID: 7079566
Filing Date: 2006-07-18
Classification: G02B,H01S

Abstract:
1. A semiconductor laser apparatus comprising: a stacked-array arrangement which includes at least one of a single stacked-array laser diode or a plurality of stacked-array laser diodes that has a plurality of emitters, the array arrangement being elongated in a direction along a direction of an emission of laser beams, the arrangement including first elements that are arranged in a first direction and second elements that are arranged in a second direction which is orthogonal to the first direction so as to form a two-dimensional array, the arrangement being capable of causing an irradiation of the laser beams which are layered in rows; a first condenser being disposed in front of the stacked-array arrangement, and being capable of refracting the laser beams in a row by row manner in the second direction so as to collimate the laser beams; a first beam compressor being disposed in front of the first condenser, and being capable of receiving the laser beams that are collimated approximately in the second direction, the first beam compressor being capable of converting the collimated laser beams into a group of laser beams having an inter-ray axis distance thereof approximately in the second direction which is shortened, and causing the group of laser beams to be irradiated; a separating optical device being disposed in front of the first beam compressor, the separating optical device being capable of separating the group of laser beams into subgroups of laser beams approximately along the first direction, and deflecting the subgroups of laser beams so that the subgroups of laser beams extend approximately along the first direction and recede from one another approximately along the second direction; a collimating optical device being disposed in front of the separating optical device and capable of deflecting the subgroups of laser beams approximately along the first and second directions by approximately the same angles as the angles by which the separating optical device has deflected the subgroups of the laser beams, and in directions opposite to the directions in which the separating optical device has deflected the subgroups of laser beams; a beam converter being disposed in front of the collimating optical device, the beam converter including further optical devices, the further optical devices being capable of dividing each of the subgroups of laser beams, and being included in a row in the laser beams, the subgroups of the laser beams being divided into portions and capable of bending nearly at right angles the axis of a section of the laser beams belonging to each portion, juxtaposed in rows, the beam converter being capable of receiving the group of laser beams emitted from the collimating optical device, allowing each of the further optical devices to turn the axis of a section of the laser beams belonging to each portion, and radiating a substantially ladder-shaped group of laser beams which extends approximately in the first direction in units of the laser beams belonging to each portion; a second beam compressor being disposed in front of the beam converter, capable of converting the group of laser beams into a further group of laser beams that are compressed approximately in the first direction and emitting a resultant group of laser beams; one or more cylindrical lenses being disposed in front of the second beam compressor and capable of facilitating an angle of divergence of the resultant group of the laser beams to be the first direction which is close to an angle of divergence in the second direction; a condenser lens capable of converging the laser beams; and an optical fiber having an end surface thereof located at a position of the focal point of the condenser lens.