Patent ID: 7265908
Filing Date: 2007-09-04
Classification: G02B

Abstract:
1. Optical apparatus, comprising: a diode-laser bar including a plurality of emitters, each of said emitters having a slow-axis parallel to the length of said diode-laser bar and a fast-axis perpendicular to the slow-axis, with light emitted from said emitters as a beam having rays diverging in the fast and slow-axes and propagating generally along an axis perpendicular to the fast and slow-axes, and with said emitters being spaced apart in the slow-axis direction; a lens and a plurality of optical elements, said lens having positive optical power in at least the slow-axis; first and second arrays of cylindrical microlenses spaced apart from each other in the propagation-axis direction and spaced apart in the propagation axis direction from the diode-laser bar, said first and second arrays being numbered sequentially in the direction of propagation, with microlenses in each of said arrays being parallel to each other and having optical power in the slow-axis only, and with microlenses in said first array being axially aligned with corresponding microlenses in said second array; the number of microlenses in said arrays and the spacing of said first microlens array from said diode-laser bar coupled with the slow-axis divergence of the light as the light reaches the first array of microlenses being selected such that each emitter illuminates at least three of the microlenses of said first array but substantially less than all the microlenses in the first array and the spacing and radius of curvature of the microlenses in each array being selected such that said arrays form a plurality of intermediate slow-axis near-field images of each emitter spaced apart in the slow-axis direction in a plane perpendicular to the propagation-axis, with bundles of diverging slow-axis rays leaving said intermediate images propagating generally parallel to the propagation axis, and; said lens being arranged with a front focal-plane thereof about coplanar with said intermediate-image plane and said lens and said optical elements arranged to project overlapping elongated far-field images of each of said intermediate near-field images to form a line of light in about a rear focal plane of said lens, said line of light having a length in the slow-axis direction.