Patent ID: 8094300

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 an output beam of the semiconductor laser into a waveguide portion of an input facet of the wavelength conversion device, the method comprising operation in a relatively low power contaminant removal mode and a relatively high power wavelength conversion mode, wherein: the waveguide portion of the wavelength conversion device comprises contaminants exhibiting a laser power density burn threshold above which the contaminants are likely to burn and a laser power density evaporation threshold above which the contaminants are likely to evaporate; in the relatively high power wavelength conversion mode, the power density of the output beam of the semiconductor laser on the input facet of the wavelength conversion device at least periodically exceeds the laser power density burn threshold of the contaminants; in the relatively low power contaminant removal mode, the adjustable optical components are utilized to scan the output beam of the semiconductor laser across the waveguide portion of the input facet of the wavelength conversion device while maintaining the power density of the output beam of the semiconductor laser on the input facet of the wavelength conversion device below the laser power density burn threshold and above the laser power density evaporation threshold; and the optical package is operated in the relatively low power contaminant removal mode for an amount of time sufficient to reduce the likelihood of contaminant burning in the waveguide portion of the wavelength conversion device during operation in the relatively high power wavelength conversion mode.