Patent ID: 7656915

Claim:
A laser diode package comprising: a laser diode for converting electrical energy to optical energy; a cooler including an exposed sheet and a plurality of ceramic sheets, the exposed sheet being a material that is electrically non-conductive and having a coefficient of thermal conductivity greater than the plurality of ceramic sheets, the exposed sheet including a region for receiving the laser diode, the plurality of ceramic sheets being fused together and the exposed sheet being attached to a top ceramic sheet of the plurality of ceramic sheets, the ceramic sheets being made of a material selected from the group consisting of low temperature cofired ceramics and high temperature cofired ceramics, each of the ceramic sheets and the exposed sheet having an inlet hole for receiving a non-deionized coolant fluid from a cooling source and an outlet hole for returning the coolant fluid to the cooling source, a number of the ceramic sheets having one or more multi-directional apertures for distributing the coolant fluid within the cooler in a direction that is transverse to the direction of the flow of the coolant fluid within the inlet hole, each of the multi-directional apertures extending entirely through the thickness of the respective ceramic sheet, the multi-directional apertures including a first multi-directional aperture extending transversely away from the inlet hole of one of the ceramic sheets, the multi-directional apertures forming a thee-dimensional flow path through the plurality of ceramic sheets that directs the coolant fluid from the first multi-directional aperture to the outlet hole, one ceramic sheet including a plurality of perforations each of which is substantially smaller than the apertures, each of the plurality of perforations in the one ceramic sheet creating a corresponding individual coolant stream that flows through the one ceramic sheet and impinges on a back surface of the exposed sheet within the laser-diode receiving region, the plurality of perforations creating a turbulent flow adjacent to the back surface of the exposed sheet, the coolant fluid returning in a direction toward the one ceramic sheet after impinging on the exposed sheet; and a metallization layer on the cooler on at least the laser-diode receiving region of the the exposed sheet for conducting the electrical energy to the laser diode.