Patent ID: 8670109

Claim:
A system for characterizing a plurality of external cavity semiconductor laser chips on a semiconductor bar separated from a semiconductor wafer, the system comprising: (A) an external cavity module (an EC module) comprising: (1) a rotary stage having a rotary axis; (2) a diffraction grating mounted on the rotary stage; and (3) a steering mirror mounted on the rotary stage with a surface of the steering mirror oriented perpendicular to a surface of the diffraction grating; (B) a chuck for holding a bar of laser chips (a laser bar), with the EC module being located adjacent to the chuck so that a beam of light emitted from a laser chip in a laser bar held on the chuck intersects the diffraction grating, a first order diffraction beam is reflected by the diffraction grating back into the laser chip to cause the laser chip to lase, and a laser beam emitted from the laser chip is reflected off the diffraction grating and the steering mirror as an output beam; (C) a computer controlled multiple axes positioning stage having one of the chuck or the EC module mounted on the positioning stage for translation of said one of the chuck or the EC module along multiple axis; and (D) a computer based controller for: (1) automatically moving the positioning stage and aligning a laser chip in a laser bar mounted on the chuck with the EC module; and (2) operating the aligned laser chip to emit a laser beam.