Laser-line generators, known as Powell lenses are used in laser materials processing and optical metrology, among other applications. Powell lenses fan a collimated light beam in one direction in such a way that a linear rectangular distribution ("top hat") results in the far field. While such elements can be well analyzed and optimized with ray-optical calculations for long lines, the wave nature of the light has to be considered for short lines. Calculation methods based on both approaches are presented and it is investigated for which line lengths which method is suitable Relevant results for lenses produced by glass precision molding are presented.
The high-power diode-laser industry is dependent on highly qualified production output for fast axis collimation (FAC)
lenses in scalable quantities. Not only controlled production processes but also the optical qualification of the final FAC
product contribute to this goal. The product qualification approach chosen is based on diode laser collimation by active
alignment and automated positioning of the FAC in collimation for the fast axis and imaging in the slow axis, allowing
to evaluate the collimation performance with a specific and installed diode laser on individual emitter intensity profiles.
We present the automated setup with results for corresponding sensitivity and repeatability analysis for the measurement
of residual divergence.
KEYWORDS: Semiconductor lasers, Micro optics, Tolerancing, Assembly tolerances, Collimation, High power lasers, Control systems, Laser bonding, Active optics, Optical alignment, High power diode lasers
The industrial assembly processes for fast axis collimation (FAC) lenses with high power laser diodes are continuously being improved and automated. The system requirements allow for various solutions for the attachment process of the micro-optic component, the standard being active assembly relative to the light emitting laser-diode facet with joining by a UV-curable glue at attachment positions outside of the laser beam-path. To facilitate higher degrees of freedom and to optimize the results in the joining process with tighter tolerances in some critical functions, the FAC mounted on tab is one of the possible solutions and a viable process option. We report the results of high accuracy preassembly of FAC on tab with respect to the specific requirement of a target assembly back focal length within tight tolerance values.
As power densities of laser diodes continuously increase, the effects of absorption losses in fast axis collimation lenses become exceedingly important. We report our analysis of two drivers of these absorption losses, coating absorption and glass bulk absorption, and how these absorption losses cause a thermal impact and have an influence on the performance of the laser beam quality emitted from a laser diode equipped with a fast axis collimation lens on a bottom tab. The presented results are derived from finite element method (FEM) simulations and the FEM model used is based on material data from data sheets and a heat transfer coefficient derived from cooling curves of components observed by a thermal infrared camera.
Precision glass molding (PGM) is an optical manufacturing process used to hot press optical glass into a specified lens shape. This is done by taking the glass to a temperature above Tg and exerting force using an upper and lower mold. These molds will, together, give the pressed lens its shape. This study focuses on the high temperature interactions between the mold tooling material and two optical oxide glasses, Ohara’s L-BAL35 and Schott’s N-FK5. Flat molds were used to press flat glass work pieces at high temperature and force; key post process parameters such as sample and mold surface contamination using EDS and visible degradation via SEM were catalogued and analyzed. The molds used were bare tungsten carbide (WC) and silicon carbide (SiC) with an amorphous SiC chemical vapor deposition (CVD) coating. The results showed that raw WC molds suffered the most degradation including physical damage as well as chemical adherence and reaction. The Ti binder used in the WC as well as some the tungsten itself transferred to both glasses and caused a white reflective layer to appear on the molded glass surface. Severe damage was evident after only 2 pressing cycles with potassium from N-FK5 being the most prominent chemical contaminant. N-FK5 proved to be the more corrosive of the two glasses in all occasions. The SiC coated molds fared better in terms of degradation than the WC, however sticking of glass to mold was a problem.
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