Patent ID: 7756170

Claim:
A method of controlling an optical package comprising a semiconductor laser, a wavelength conversion device, one or more adjustable optical components configured to optically couple the output of the semiconductor laser with an input face of the wavelength conversion device, and an intensity sensor configured to monitor intensity variations of a wavelength-converted output λ CONV of the wavelength conversion device, the method comprising: operating the semiconductor laser to generate a wavelength-modulated output beam λ MOD that is modulated over a range of wavelengths encompassing a substantial portion of a FWHM conversion efficiency bandwidth of the wavelength conversion device; directing the modulated output beam λ MOD towards the input face of the wavelength conversion device; operating the adjustable optical components to vary the position of the modulated output beam λ MOD on the input face of the wavelength conversion device, wherein the frequency at which the output beam of the laser is modulated as the position of the modulated output beam λ MOD is varied is high enough to ensure that the output beam cycles through a complete modulation frequency range Δf at least once for each pass across a waveguide portion of an input face of the wavelength conversion device; monitoring the intensity variations of a wavelength-converted output λ conv of the wavelength conversion device as the output beam of the laser is modulated over the range of wavelengths and as the position of the modulated output beam λ MOD on the input face of the wavelength conversion device is varied; correlating a maximum value of the monitored intensity variations of the wavelength-converted output λ CONV with optimum coordinates representing the position of the modulated output beam λ MOD on the input face of the wavelength conversion device; terminating the variation of the position of the modulated output beam λ MOD on the input face of the wavelength conversion device by using the optimum coordinates to fix the adjustable optical components, at least temporarily; and operating the optical package in a data projection mode by directing an intensity-modulated laser beam from the semiconductor laser to the wavelength conversion device using the optimum positional coordinates for the adjustable optical components.