Patent ID: 8437086

Claim:
A beam combining light source, comprising: a support base; a first row of light emitters mounted upon the support base for emitting a plurality of first emitter beams along a plurality of optical paths, each of the first emitter beams having a fast axis and a slow axis; a first row of beam collimating reflectors mounted upon the support base for collimating each of the first emitter beams in a plane of the slow axis thereof, and for re-directing the first emitter beams to mutually align the fast axes thereof for forming a first combined beam, wherein the first row of beam collimating reflectors is disposed at a distance from the first row of light emitters defining a space therebetween; a second row of light emitters mounted upon the support base for emitting a plurality of second emitter beams along a plurality of optical paths, each of the second emitter beams having a fast axis and a slow axis; a second row of beam collimating reflectors mounted upon the support base and spaced apart from the second row of light emitters for collimating each of the second emitter beams in a slow axis plane, and for re-directing the second emitter beams to mutually align the fast axes thereof for forming a second combined beam; wherein light emitters of the first and second rows are disposed in a staggered arrangement with a lateral offset therebetween, and wherein: the second row of collimating reflectors is disposed at least partially in the space between the first row of light emitters and the first row of collimating reflectors, and the lateral offset between the first and second rows of the light emitters is such that the collimating reflectors of the second row do not block any of the first emitter beams.