Patent ID: 7212554

Claim:
A high power light source comprising: a plurality of laser diodes; a plurality of multimode waveguides each having an end optically coupled to one of the plurality of laser diodes so as to collect beams of light emitted from the plurality of laser diodes and guide said beams of light propagating in a forward direction to a first collection location and for guiding light traversing said multimode waveguides in an opposite direction to light from the plurality of laser diodes; an optical combiner disposed to receive the beams of light propagating in the forward direction from the first collection location and for combining said beams of light into a single forward propagating beam of light so that substantially all optical radiation within each beam of light overlaps the optical radiation each other beam to form the single beam, and for separating a received beam of light traversing in an opposite direction into separate beams of light at the collection location for providing optical feedback to the plurality of laser diodes; and an at least partially reflective element disposed to receive the single forward propagating beam of light for transmitting greater than 60% of the single forward propagating beam of light therethrough, and for reflecting between 3–40% of the single forward propagating beam back to the laser diodes as feedback to stabilize said laser diodes, wherein the at least partially reflective element has a reflectivity of>2% for±2 nm from a center wavelength of 792 nm, 808 nm, 938 nm, or 976 nm.