Abstract: An extremely versatile diode laser assembly is provided, the assembly comprised of a plurality of diode laser subassemblies mounted to a stepped cooling block. The stepped cooling block allows the fabrication of a close packed and compact assembly in which individual diode laser subassembly output beams do not interfere with one another.

Abstract: An extremely versatile diode laser assembly is provided, the assembly comprised of a plurality of diode laser subassemblies mounted to a stepped cooling block. The stepped cooling block allows the fabrication of a close packed and compact assembly in which individual diode laser subassembly output beams do not interfere with one another.

Abstract: A single piece optic for coupling the output of a diode laser array into an optical fiber array is provided. The coupling optic has a planar back surface which, during use with a diode laser array, is positioned substantially parallel to the front face of the laser array. The coupling optic is fabricated from a single substrate and is comprised of a plurality of optical elements. Depending upon the technique used to fabricate the optical elements, the individual optical elements may be trapezoidally-shaped or rectangularly-shaped. The front surface of each optical element is tilted, thus preventing reflected laser radiation from resonating within the diode laser's emitters. Preferably the wedge angle for the tilted front surface is greater than 2 mrad, thus accomplishing the goal of limiting feedback into the emitters, and less than 4 mrad, thus reducing beam steering.

Abstract: A means of achieving a spatially uniform output beam from a laser diode array with minimal design complexity is provided. The means is comprised of one or more optical elements located adjacent to the output of the diode array, the optical element(s) reducing the divergence of the output of the individual emitters of the diode array in at least one axis to within an acceptable range, preferably within the range of 0.1 to 10 degrees. The means is further comprised of a diffusing element, the output of the emitters passing through the optical element(s) prior to passing through the diffusing element. The diffusing element, preferably either a holographic diffuser or an engineered diffuser™ which provides control over the light diffusion angles, smoothes out the ripples formed by the overlapping output beams of the emitters in order to achieve the desired spatially uniform beam.