Patent ID: 7773653

Claim:
A diode laser apparatus comprising: a plurality of laser bars, each laser bar having an emission direction, a slow axis, and a fast axis, wherein: at least some of the laser bars are laterally offset relative to each other along a direction parallel to their fast axes, the laser bars are disposed along an arc that is parallel with an X-Y plane, the emission directions of the laser bars are directed toward an inside of the arc, and the laser bars are oriented with their slow axes parallel with the X-Y plane; and a cylindrical jacket segment that defines the arc; and an optical element configured to combine laser beams of the laser bars into one common laser beam, wherein the optical element: is disposed substantially at a central axis of the cylindrical jacket segment, comprises individual mirrors associated with individual laser bars that are each rotated relative to each other around the axis of the cylindrical jacket segment, and is configured as a fan-shaped mirror arrangement such that the laser beams are parallel to and on top of each other in the fast axis after reflecting from the optical element.