The present disclosure relates to a driver circuit for a light source and related methods of operating the driver circuit. In particular, it relates to a driver circuit designed to reduce the effect of parasitic inductances on the rise time/fall time of excitation current pulses applied to the light source using the driver circuit.

A compact diode laser achieves high-power, short duration output pulses by separating the lasing action from the pulse-generating mechanism. A diode seed source is configured for gain-switching via a variable RF source. A time lens element includes an intensity modulation device, a phase modulation device, and a pulse compressor. The intensity modulation device carves shorter pulses from the long gain-switched seed pulses, the phase modulation device adds chirp, and the pulse compressor compensates for the chirp while producing high-power short-duration output pulses.

A laser light-source apparatus includes a seed light source 10, fiber amplifiers 20 and 30 and a solid state amplifier 50 configured to amplify pulse light output from the seed light source, nonlinear optical elements 60 and 70 configured to perform wavelength conversion on the pulse light output from the solid state amplifier 50 and output the resultant pulse light, a semiconductor optical amplifier 15 disposed between the seed light source 10 and the solid state amplifier 50 and configured to amplify the pulse light output from the seed light source 10, and a control unit 100 configured to execute gain switching control processing in which the seed light source 10 is driven at a desired pulse rate, and semiconductor optical amplifier control processing in which an injection current to the semiconductor optical amplifier 15 is controlled depending on the pulse rate of the seed light source 10, and thus, generation of a giant pulse can be reliably prevented, regardless of the pulse rate of the seed light source.

A semiconductor laser diode light source package includes: a seed light source for outputting signal beams; a pump beam source for outputting pump beams; and at least one mirror for transmitting the signal beams to a core of an output optical fiber and transmitting the pump beams to first cladding of the output optical fiber, wherein the seed light source, the pump beam source, and the at least one mirror are realized in a semiconductor chip, and the output optical fiber is connected to an end terminal of the semiconductor laser diode light source package.

A system to detect obstacles includes a power beam transmission circuit, a power beam reception circuit arranged to receive a power beam from the power beam transmission circuit, an emitter module, and a detector module arranged to distinguish between a first characteristic and a second characteristic. The emitter module includes a first emitter arranged to emit a first signal having the first characteristic, the first signal emitted in proximity to the power beam, and a second emitter arranged to emit a second signal having the second characteristic, the second characteristic different from the first characteristic, the second signal emitted in proximity to the first signal. The detector module includes a first detector arranged to respond to the first signal emitted by the first emitter, wherein the detector module is arranged to determine when an obstacle is in or near a line-of-sight transmission path between the first emitter and the first detector.

A self-calibrating driver circuit (100, 300, 400, 500, 700) for a laser diode is disclosed. The circuit comprises a configurable current source (105, 305, 405, 505), a current mirror (115, 315, 415) configured to mirror a current from the configurable current source to a first transistor (120, 320, 420, 520, 720) and to a second transistor (125, 325, 425, 725), and a control circuit (140, 340, 440). The control circuit is configured to monitor a current through the first transistor at a first time, and to configure the current source based on the current through the first transistor to provide a desired current to the second transistor for driving the laser diode at a subsequent second time. A radiation-emitting device comprising one or more of the self-calibrating driver circuits and at least one radiation-emitting element is also disclosed.

The invention provides a light generating system (1000) comprising a light source (110), a luminescent material (210), and a control system (300), wherein: —the light source (110) is configured in an operational mode to generate pulsed light source light (111) having a pulse frequency f.sub.per and a duty cycle d; —the luminescent material (210) is configured to convert part of the light source light (111) into luminescent material light (211), wherein the luminescent material light (211) has a luminescence decay time τ.sub.L; —the light generating system (1000) is configured in the operational mode to generate system light (1001) comprising light source light (111) and the luminescent material light (211); wherein the system light (1001) has a variable color point; and —the control system (300) is configured in the operational mode to control the color point by controlling one or more of the pulse frequency f.sub.per and the duty cycle d, wherein f.sub.per≥1/(10*τ.sub.L).

A pulsed laser diode driver includes a refresh circuit configured to generate a refresh current using a received input voltage. A current amplitude of the refresh current is controlled by the refresh circuit based on a voltage level of a source voltage received by the refresh circuit. A source capacitor of the pulsed laser diode driver is configured to receive the refresh current and to develop the source voltage therefrom. An inductor of the pulsed laser diode driver has a first terminal that is directly electrically connected to the source capacitor. One or more switches of the pulsed laser diode driver are configured to control a current flow through the inductor to produce a high-current pulse through a laser diode that corresponds to a peak current of a resonant waveform developed at an anode of the laser diode.

A laser beam generating device includes a housing a first laser diode which generates a visible first output beam which projects outside of the housing onto a surface and a second laser diode which generates a visible second output beam which projects outside of the housing onto the surface. The laser beam generating device has a first mode in which the first laser diode and the second laser diode are both on. In the first mode, the first laser diode is operated at a first duty cycle the second laser diode is operated at a second duty cycle. The first duty cycle and the second duty cycle are staggered.

A lighting module includes a voltage-current controller to control power externally supplied, a capacitor charged with power supplied from the voltage-current controller, a laser light source to emit laser light driven by a current from the capacitor, first and second FETs electrically connected in series to the laser light source, and circuitry that controls a first voltage value applied to the first FET and a second voltage value applied to the second FET, to control a resistance value of the second FET. The first FET controls a pulse width of the current flowing through the laser light source in accordance with the first voltage value applied to a gate thereof. The second FET changes in resistance value in accordance with the second voltage value applied to a gate thereof and controls, with the resistance value, a peak value of the current flowing through the laser light source.