COMPACT OPTICAL MODULE

Abstract

An optical package includes a beam combiner that combines laser light from a laser unit into a single laser beam, a movable mirror apparatus, and a fixed folding mirror which reflects the single laser beam toward the movable mirror apparatus. Beam equalizer optics cause increase of a slow axis divergence rate of the single laser beam such that its slow axis divergence rate is equal to its fast axis divergence rate. The movable mirror apparatus directs the single laser beam through an exit window. The beam equalizer optics include at least one negative spherical lens shaped such that a slow axis divergence rate of incident light is increased but a fast axis divergence rate of incident light is unaltered.

Claims

1. An optical package, comprising: a laser unit containing one or more laser diodes within a single package; a beam combiner configured to combine laser light from the one or more laser diodes into a single laser beam; a movable mirror apparatus; a fixed folding mirror upon which the single laser beam output by the beam combiner impinges and which is configured to reflect the single laser beam toward the movable mirror apparatus; and beam equalizer optics configured to cause increase of a slow axis divergence rate of the single laser beam along a slow axis of the single laser beam such that the slow axis divergence rate is equal to a fast axis divergence rate of the single laser beam along a fast axis of the single laser beam; wherein the movable mirror apparatus is configured to direct the single laser beam through an exit window and to scan the single laser beam in a scan pattern to form at least one desired image on a target adjacent the optical package.

2. The optical package of claim 1, wherein the beam equalizer optics include at least one cylindrical lens shaped such that a slow axis divergence rate of incident light is increased but a fast axis divergence rate of incident light is unaltered.

3. The optical package of claim 2, wherein the beam equalizer optics are positioned such that the at least one cylindrical lens increases the slow axis divergence rate of the single laser beam but does not alter the fast axis divergence rate of the single laser beam.

4. The optical package of claim 3, further comprising at least one negative spherical lens positioned downstream of the at least one cylindrical lens and shaped such that the slow axis divergence rate and the fast axis divergence rate of the single laser beam are increased, and further comprising at least one positive spherical lens positioned downstream of the at least one cylindrical lens and shaped such that the slow axis divergence rate and the fast axis divergence rate of the single laser beam are stabilized as the single laser beam passes through the at least one positive spherical lens.

5. The optical package of claim 4, wherein the at least one positive spherical lens is shaped such that the slow axis divergence rate and the fast axis divergence rate of the single laser beam are reduced as the single laser beam passed through the at least one positive spherical lens.

6. The optical package of claim 2, wherein the beam equalizer optics are positioned such that the at least one cylindrical lens increases a slow axis divergence rate of the laser light from the one or more laser diodes to thereby increase the slow axis divergence rate of the single laser beam, but does not increase a fast axis divergence rate of the laser light from the one or more laser diodes such that the fast axis divergence rate of the single laser beam remains unaltered.

7. The optical package of claim 6, further comprising at least one negative spherical lens positioned downstream of the at least one cylindrical lens and shaped such that the slow axis divergence rate and the fast axis divergence rate of the single laser beam are increased, and further comprising at least one positive spherical lens positioned such that the slow axis divergence rate and the fast axis divergence rate of the single laser beam are stabilized as the single laser beam passes through the at least one positive spherical lens.

8. The optical package of claim 7, wherein the at least one positive spherical lens is shaped such that the slow axis divergence rate and the fast axis divergence rate of the single laser beam are reduced as the single laser beam passed through the at least one positive spherical lens.

9. The optical package of claim 6, wherein the laser unit contains one or more laser diodes within a single package that lases to produce laser light which exits the prism through an exit window; and wherein the at least one cylindrical lens is positioned adjacent the exit window.

10. The optical package of claim 6, wherein the laser unit contains one or more laser diodes within a single package that lases to produce laser light which exits the prism through an exit window; and wherein the at least one cylindrical lens is incorporated within the exit window.

11. The optical package of claim 6, wherein the laser unit contains one or more laser diodes within a single package that lases to produce laser light which exits the prism through an exit window; and wherein the exit window is shaped such that the exit window functions as the at least one cylindrical lens.

12. The optical package of claim 6, wherein the laser unit contains red, green, and blue laser diodes within a single package that lases to generate red, green, and blue laser light that is initially shone through a prism within the laser unit and which exits the prism; wherein the prism is shaped such that the prism functions as the at least one cylindrical lens.

13. The optical package of claim 6, wherein the laser unit contains red, green, and blue laser diodes within a single package that lases to generate red, green, and blue laser light that is initially shone through prisms within the laser unit and which exits the prism; wherein the prisms are shaped such that the prisms function as the at least one cylindrical lens.

14. The optical package of claim 1, wherein the movable mirror apparatus includes a horizontal mirror upon which the single laser beam, as reflected by the folding mirror, impinges, wherein the horizontal mirror reflects the single laser beam toward a vertical mirror that reflects the single laser beam out an exit window in the optical package.

15. The optical package of claim 14, wherein the horizontal mirror is driven at resonance and the vertical mirror is driven linearly.

16. The optical package of claim 14, wherein the vertical mirror is arranged such that the single laser beam exits the exit window at a desired keystone angle.

17. The optical package of claim 1, wherein the beam combiner comprises first, second, and third discrete dichroic beam combiners spaced apart from one another.

18. An augmented reality package, comprising: a printed circuit board containing laser driver circuitry and mirror driver circuitry; a compact optical package mechanically connected to the printed circuit board and electrically connected to the laser driver circuitry and mirror driver circuitry; wherein the compact optical package comprises: an RGB laser unit containing red, green, and blue laser diodes within a single package, the RGB laser unit electrically connected to the laser driver circuitry; a beam combiner configured to combine the red, green, and blue laser light into a single RGB laser beam; a movable mirror apparatus electrically connected to the mirror driver circuitry; a fixed folding mirror upon which the single RGB laser beam output by the beam splitter impinges and configured to reflect the single RGB laser beam toward the movable mirror apparatus; and beam equalizer optics configured to cause increase of a slow axis divergence rate of the single RGB laser beam along a slow axis of the single RGB laser beam such that the slow axis divergence rate is equal to a fast axis divergence rate of the single RGB laser beam along a fast axis of the single RGB laser beam; wherein the movable mirror apparatus is configured to, under control of the mirror driver circuitry, direct the single RGB laser beam through an exit window and to scan the single RGB laser beam in a scan pattern to form at least one desired image on a target of the augmented reality package.

19. The augmented reality package of claim 18, wherein the beam equalizer optics include at least one cylindrical lens shaped such that a slow axis divergence rate of incident light is increased but a fast axis divergence rate of incident light is unaltered.

20. The augmented reality package of claim 19, wherein the beam equalizer optics are positioned such that the at least one cylindrical lens increases the slow axis divergence rate of the single RGB laser beam but does not alter the fast axis divergence rate of the single RGB laser beam.

21. The augmented reality package of claim 20, further comprising at least one negative spherical lens positioned downstream of the at least one cylindrical lens and shaped such that the slow axis divergence rate and the fast axis divergence rate of the single laser beam are increased, and further comprising at least one positive spherical lens positioned downstream of the at least one negative spherical lens and shaped such that the slow axis divergence rate and the fast axis divergence rate of the single RGB laser beam are stabilized as the single RGB laser beam passes through the at least one positive spherical lens.

22. The augmented reality package of claim 21, wherein the at least one positive spherical lens is shaped such that the slow axis divergence rate and the fast axis divergence rate of the single RGB laser beam are reduced as the single RGB laser beam passed through the at least one positive spherical lens.

23. The augmented reality package of claim 19, wherein the beam equalizer optics are positioned such that the at least one cylindrical lens increases a slow axis divergence rate of the red, green, and blue laser light from the red, green, and blue laser diodes to thereby increase the slow axis divergence rate of the single RGB laser beam, but does not increase a fast axis divergence rate of the red, green, and blue laser light from the red, green, and blue laser diodes such that the fast axis divergence rate of the single RGB laser beam remains unaltered.

24. The augmented reality package of claim 23, further comprising at least one negative spherical lens positioned downstream of the at least one cylindrical lens and shaped such that the slow axis divergence rate and the fast axis divergence rate of the single laser beam are increased, and further comprising at least one positive spherical lens positioned such that the slow axis divergence rate and the fast axis divergence rate of the single RGB laser beam are stabilized as the single RGB laser beam passes through the at least one positive spherical lens.

25. The augmented reality package of claim 24, wherein the at least one positive spherical lens is shaped such that the slow axis divergence rate and the fast axis divergence rate of the single RGB laser beam are reduced as the single RGB laser beam passed through the at least one positive spherical lens.

26. The augmented reality package of claim 23, wherein the at least one cylindrical lens is incorporated within an exit window of the compact optical package.

27. The augmented reality package of claim 23, wherein an exit window of the compact optical package is shaped such that the exit window functions as the at least one cylindrical lens.

28. The augmented reality package of claim 23, wherein the compact optical package contains a prism through which the red, green, and blue laser light is shone; and wherein the prism is shaped such that the prism functions as the at least one cylindrical lens.

29. The augmented reality package of claim 23, wherein the compact optical package contains prisms through which the red, green, and blue laser light is shone; and wherein the prisms are shaped such that the prisms function as the at least one cylindrical lens.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatical representation of a first variant of a compact optical module disclosed herein.

[0039] FIG. 2 contains front and rear perspective views of the RGB laser package used in the compact optical modules disclosed herein.

[0040] FIG. 3 is a diagrammatical representation of a second variant of a compact optical module disclosed herein.

[0041] FIG. 4 is a perspective diagram of the compact optical module of FIG. 1.

[0042] FIG. 5 is diagrammatical representation of the vertical mirror, horizontal mirror, and folding mirror of FIG. 1 with a keystone angle of 0°.

[0043] FIG. 6 is diagrammatical representation of the vertical mirror, horizontal mirror, and folding mirror of FIG. 1 with a keystone angle of 5°.

[0044] FIG. 7 is diagrammatical representation of the vertical mirror, horizontal mirror, and folding mirror of FIG. 1 with a keystone angle of 14°.

[0045] FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the compact optical module of FIG. 1 as installed within a housing, in which the dimensions of the compact optical module are shown.

[0046] FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an augmented reality unit including the compact optical module of FIG. 1.

[0047] FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a pair of augmented reality glasses including the augmented reality unit of FIG. 9.

[0048] FIG. 11 is a diagrammatical view of a sample laser diode together with an indication of its slow and fast axes.

[0049] FIG. 12 is a diagrammatical view of beam equalizer and beam expander optics such as may be incorporated into the compact optical modules disclosed herein.

[0050] FIG. 13 is another diagrammatical view of beam expander optics such as may be incorporated into the compact optical modules disclosed herein.

[0051] FIG. 14 is a diagrammatical representation of a third variant of a compact optical module disclosed herein in which the compact optical module design corresponds to that of FIG. 3, but with beam equalizer optics added between the RGB laser package and the alignment lenses, and beam expander optics added in the path of the combined RGB laser beam.

[0052] FIG. 15 is a diagrammatical representation of a fourth variant of a compact optical module disclosed herein in which the compact optical module design corresponds to that of FIG. 3, but with beam equalizer optics incorporated in the exit window of the RGB laser package, and beam expander optics added in the path of the combined RGB laser beam.

[0053] FIG. 16 is a diagrammatical representation of a fifth variant of a compact optical module disclosed herein in which the compact optical module design corresponds to that of FIG. 3, but with beam equalizer optics being located between the paths of the individual R, G, and B laser beams and the path of the combined RGB laser beam.

[0054] FIG. 17 is a diagrammatical representation of a first possible configuration for the beam equalizer optics of FIG. 16 as incorporated into the prism within the RGB package.

[0055] FIG. 18 is a diagrammatical cross sectional view of the prisms of FIG. 17 in which the cross section along the fast axis and slow axis of the prisms can be seen.

[0056] FIG. 19 is a diagrammatical representation of a second possible configuration for the beam equalizer optics of FIG. 16 as incorporated into the multiple prisms within the RGB package.

[0057] FIG. 20 illustrates results achieved using the compact optical modules described herein using the embodiments of FIGS. 14-16.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0058] The following disclosure enables a person skilled in the art to make and use the subject matter disclosed herein. The general principles described herein may be applied to embodiments and applications other than those detailed above without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed or suggested herein.

[0059] A compact optical module 10 is now described with reference to FIG. 1. The compact optical module 10 includes a housing 11 carrying a compact RGB laser package 12 that includes a red laser diode 12a, green laser diode 12b, and blue laser diode 12c therein.

[0060] Details of the compact RGB laser package 12 are shown in FIG. 2. The compact RGB laser package 12 includes an aluminum nitride body 39, on a front face of which are aluminum nitride sub-mounts 41, 42, and 43. The red laser diode 12a is mounted to the first aluminum nitride sub-mount 41, green laser diode 12b is mounted to the second aluminum nitride sub-mount 42, and the blue laser diode 12c is mounted to the third aluminum nitride sub-mount 43. The laser diodes 12a, 12b, and 12c themselves are each formed in their own die. A single glass prism 40 is mounted to the front side of the aluminum nitride body 39, and serves to help focus the red, green, and blue laser beams respectively emitted by the red laser diode 12a, green laser diode 12b, and blue laser diode 12c, although it should be appreciated that in some instances, the element 40 may instead be three glass prisms, one for each laser diode 12a, 12b, and 12c. On the back face of the aluminum nitride body 39, electrical pads 45 are mounted, which provide connections to the red laser diode 12a, green laser diode 12b, and blue laser diode 12c. A thermal pad 46 is mounted on the back face of the aluminum nitride body 39 and makes contact with the housing 11 at the location therein where the compact RGB laser package 12 is carried. The physical dimensions of the housing 11 may be, for example, 5.3 mm in width, 4 mm in depth, and 1.25 mm in height. Prior art systems utilize individually packaged laser diodes, each of which is nearly the size of the RGB laser package 12 used herein; thus the RGB laser package 12 provides a large amount of savings in terms of space and weight. Naturally, the RGB laser package 12 and housing 11 may have other dimensions, and the given dimensions are just examples.

[0061] Returning to FIG. 1, alignment lenses 14a, 14b, and 14c are carried within the housing 11 adjacent the RGB laser package 12, and serve to collimate the laser beams 30, 31, and 32 respectively generated by the red laser diode 12a, green laser diode 12b, and blue laser diode 12c in operation. The alignment lenses 14a, 14b, and 14c are set such that the laser spots would overlap at a certain distance, for example, at a 450 mm focal distance. In addition, the maximum angular deviation between any two laser spots should helpfully be no more than 0.2°, and the maximum deviation between all laser spots should helpfully be no more than 0.5°. The spot size produced by the red laser diode 12a, after focusing by the alignment lens 14a, is to be around 830×650 microns; the spot size produced by the blue laser diode 12b, after focusing by the alignment lens 14b, is to be around 800×600 microns; and the spot size produced by the green laser diode 12c, after focusing by the alignment lens 14c, is to be around 780×550 microns. If the focal distance is changed from this example for a particular application, the spot size changes accordingly. The alignment lenses 14a, 14b, and 14c may have a numerical aperture of 0.38, with an effective focal length of 2 mm, and a 1 mm diameter, and may be coated with anti-reflective coating that allows light in the range of 400 nm-700 nm to pass but rejects other light. The alignment lenses 14a, 14b, and 14c may have a generally cylindrical cross section, with a flat rear surface and a convex front surface, or, in some cases, may have an aspherical shape. The effective focal length and diameter of the alignment lenses 14a, 14b, and 14c can be altered as desired for specific applications. For example, the alignment lenses 14a, 14b, and 14c may be 1.5 mm in diameter. Also appreciate that in some cases, the alignment lenses 14a, 14b, and 14c may have different diameters from one another, or one of the alignment lenses may have a different diameter than the other two alignment lenses.

[0062] A 4:1 beam splitter 16 is carried within the housing 11 adjacent the alignment lenses 14a, 14b, and 14c. This beam splitter 16 is a single rectangularly shaped unit formed of three square units, each square unit being comprised of two triangular prisms having their bases affixed to one another. The overall dimensions of the beam splitter may be, for example, 6 mm in length, 2 mm in depth, and 2.5 mm in height. Naturally, these dimensions are just examples, and the beam splitter 16 may instead of other dimensions.

[0063] The prisms of the beam splitter 16 that serve to reflect the laser beams 30 and 31 are arranged so as to reflect as close to 100% of those beams as possible along a trajectory out the right side of the beam splitter 36 to help form the combined RGB laser beam 33, while the prisms of the beam splitter 16 that serve to reflect the laser beam 32 is arranged so as to reflect about 98% of the laser beam 32 out the right side of the beam splitter 36 to form the combined RGB laser beam 33, while passing about 2% of the laser beam 32 through to reach a photodiode 18 used to provide feedback for the system driving the laser diodes 12a, 12b, and 12c of the RGB laser package 12.

[0064] Note that while the beam splitter 16 here is used to combine the laser beams 30, 31, and 32 to form the RGB laser beam 33, the beam splitter 16 is still technically a 4:1 beam splitter, as if a beam 33 were to be input into the right side (the output) of the beam splitter 16, the beam splitter would split it to produce the beams 32 (exiting toward the lens 14c and toward the photodiode 18), 31, and 30. Thus, despite its use as a beam combiner, the component 16 is indeed a beam splitter 16.

[0065] A vertical mirror 20, horizontal mirror 24, and folding mirror 22 are adjacent the beam splitter 16, and collectively are used to reflect the RGB laser beam 33 out an exit window 26 on a housing 11 and onto a display surface. Note that the position of the folding mirror 22 is fixed during operation, while the horizontal mirror 24 is driven to oscillate at its resonance frequency and the vertical mirror 22 is driven linearly. Therefore, the purpose of the folding mirror 22 is simply to “fold” the path of the RGB laser beam 33 to strike the horizontal mirror 24, while the purpose of the horizontal mirror 24 and vertical mirror 22 is to scan the RGB laser beam 33 across the display surface in a scan pattern designed to reproduce the desired still or moving images. The overall dimensions of the vertical mirror 22 may be, for example, 7.94 mm in length, 2.34 mm in depth, and 0.67 mm in height; the overall dimensions of the horizontal mirror 24 may be, for example, 4.44 mm in length, 2.94 mm in depth, and 0.67 mm in height. Naturally, the vertical mirror 22 and horizontal mirror 24 may have other dimensions, and the given dimensions are just examples.

[0066] Note that, instead of the beam splitter 16, as shown in FIG. 3, three separate dichroic beam combiners 16a′, 16b′, and 16c′ may be used to reproduce the RGB laser beam 33 and its illustrated path. Understand that, as compared to the beam splitter 16 which is a single component formed from sub-components bonded together, the dichroic beam combiners 16a′, 16b′, and 16c′ are separate, discrete components. The overall dimension of each dichroic beam combiner 16a′, 16b′, and 16c′ may be 2.6 mm in length, 0.5 mm in depth, and 3.2 mm in height, for example. Naturally, dichroic beam combiners 16a′, 16b′, and 16c′ may have other dimensions, and the given dimensions are just examples. The dichroic beam combiners 16a′, 16b′, and 16c′ have the same functional operation as the beam splitter 16 described above.

[0067] Turning now to FIG. 4, the geometry of the vertical mirror 20, horizontal mirror 24, and folding mirror 22 is now described. The RGB laser beam 33 is aimed by the beam splitter 16 to pass over the top of the vertical mirror 20 to strike the folding mirror 22, which reflects the RGB laser beam 33 onto the horizontal mirror 24, which then reflects the RGB laser beam 33 onto the vertical mirror 20, which reflects the RGB laser beam 33 out the exit window 26 on the housing 11 and onto the display surface.

[0068] Sample angles for this path taken by the RGB laser beam 33 may be seen in FIG. 5, where the folding mirror 22 reflects the RGB laser beam 33 at an angle of 54° toward the horizontal mirror 24, and the horizontal mirror 24 reflects the RGB laser beam 33 at an angle of 54° toward the vertical mirror. The vertical mirror 20 is arranged to reflect the RGB laser beam 33 in a direction parallel to the plane in which the horizontal mirror 24 lies, and therefore directly out the exit window 26 without any keystone. In this arrangement, it may be observed that the path traveled by the RGB laser beam 33 between the centers of the horizontal mirror 24 and vertical mirror 20 is about 0.9 mm. The mechanical opening angle of the vertical mirror 20 is ±5°, and the mechanical opening angle of the horizontal mirror 24 is ±12°.

[0069] In some instances, it may be desired for the RGB laser beam 33 to exit the exit window with keystone. For example, in FIG. 6, the folding mirror 22 reflects the RGB laser beam 33 at an angle of 54° toward the horizontal mirror 24, and the horizontal mirror 24 reflects the RGB laser beam 33 at an angle of 56.5° toward the vertical mirror, and the vertical mirror 20 reflects the RGB laser beam 33 out the exit window 26 at a keystone angle of 5°, which permits ±10° in mechanical opening angle of the vertical mirror 20. In this arrangement, it may be observed that the path traveled by the RGB laser beam 33 between the centers of the horizontal mirror 24 and vertical mirror 20 is about 1.02 mm.

[0070] As another example, in FIG. 7, the folding mirror 22 reflects the RGB laser beam 33 at an angle of 54° toward the horizontal mirror 24, and the horizontal mirror 24 reflects the RGB laser beam 33 at an angle of 61° toward the vertical mirror, and the vertical mirror 20 reflects the RGB laser beam 33 out the exit window 26 at a keystone angle of 14°, which permits ±7° in mechanical opening angle of the vertical mirror 20. In this arrangement, it may be observed that the path traveled by the RGB laser beam 33 between the horizontal mirror 24 and vertical mirror 20 is about 1.28 mm.

[0071] From the above, it is to be noticed that the distance between the centers of the horizontal mirror 24 and vertical mirror 20 changes as the keystone angle changes. The larger the keystone, the larger the distance between the centers of the horizontal mirror 24 and vertical mirror 20, and vice versa.

[0072] A perspective view of the compact optical module 10 may be seen in FIG. 8, where it can be seen that the housing 11 has dimensions of 10.2 mm in width, 11 mm in depth, and 5.5 mm in height.

[0073] A potential augmented reality unit 40 is shown in FIG. 9, where it can be observed that the compact optical module 10 is installed and electrically connected to the end of a printed circuit board 51 that includes drivers for the mirrors and RGB laser package within the compact optical module 10. A target surface 52 is adjacent the exit window of the compact optical module 10, and therefore in operation, images are formed on the target surface 52 by the compact optical module 10.

[0074] This augmented reality unit 40 may be installed into a pair of augmented reality glasses 60, as shown in FIG. 10, where it can be observed that the compact optical module 10 is sufficiently small such that the augmented reality glasses 60 appear to be a normal pair of eyeglasses.

[0075] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that laser beams as generated by a laser diode typically have a slow axis and a fast axis, as shown in FIG. 11. The fast axis is called the fast axis because the beam divergence is larger along the fast axis than the slow axis. Thus, as one moves away from the laser beam source, the fast axis diameter grows at a faster rate than the diameter along the slow axis, and so it can be said that the laser beam diverges faster along its fast axis. The slow axis still diverges, however, the angle of divergence is smaller. So as to keep the beam spot produced as the laser beam strikes a target from becoming overly elongate, fast axis compressor lenses are typically used to reduce the divergence along the fast axis so that it matches the divergence along the slow axis. This is an effective solution.

[0076] However, in some applications (such as in augmented reality glasses or virtual reality headsets), certain desires come into play, such as the desire to improve color separation and remove dark areas to thereby improve overall image quality. To accomplish this, as will be described hereinbelow, instead of compressing the fast axis of the laser beam, the slow axis is expanded so that its divergence is increased to match the divergence of the fast axis, thereby creating a larger beam spot that remains generally circular.

[0077] One way that has been found to accomplish this is to insert beam equalizer optics 69 after generation of the individual R, G, and B lasers prior to their combination to form the combined RGB laser 33, as shown in FIG. 12. A beam equalizer optic (e.g., a cylindrical lens 69, or other suitable lens shaped to achieve the slow axis divergence increase described below) is placed to receive the individual R, G, and B laser beams, and has a cross section specifically designed to expand the divergence along the slow axis (but to not expand or contract the divergence along the fast axis), such that divergence along the slow axis matches the divergence along the fast axis. In FIG. 12, the top path illustrated shows the slow axis, where the expanded divergence can be observed—for example, the divergence before the cylindrical lens 69 may be 7°, but expanded to 22° by the cylindrical lens; the bottom path illustrated shows the fast axis, where it can be observed that the divergence remains unaffected by the cylindrical lens 69 and remains at 22°. Keep in mind that the top path in FIG. 12 represents a cross sectional view of the cylindrical lens 69 along the slow axis while the bottom path represents a cross sectional view of the very same cylindrical lens 69 along the fast axis. An aspherical lens 14 (described above) is located downstream of the cylindrical lens 69. Dichroic beam combiners (not shown in FIG. 12) combine the individual R, G, and B lasers after equalization to form the combined RGB laser beam 33.

[0078] Beam expander optics 70 that expand the combined RGB laser beam 33 in a dual axis fashion are located downstream of the aspherical lens 14 and dichroic beam combiners, with the beam expander optics 70 including a negative spherical lens 71 that expands the slow axis and fast axis of the beam 33 equally, and a positive spherical lens 72 that stops divergence and produces an enlarged, generally circular beam 73 having a desired diameter.

[0079] Examples of the beam expander optics 70 may be seen FIG. 13, where the negative spherical lens 71 receives an incident beam having a diameter of d as it impinges upon the negative spherical lens 71, expands the divergence along both the fast and slow axis to produce a generally circular beam having a diameter of D as it impinges upon the positive spherical lens 72, and where the positive spherical lens 72 produces a stabilized combined RGB laser beam 73 having the diameter of D and remaining generally collimated. By changing the distance t between the negative spherical lens 71 and the positive spherical lens 72, and/or by changing the focal length F2 of the positive spherical lens 72, the diameter D of the stabilized combined RGB laser beam 73 can be changed. As a first example, the diameter d of the combined RGB laser beam 33 as it impinges upon the negative spherical lens 71 may be 0.45 mm, and the diameter D of the stabilized combined RGB laser beam 73 may be 0.9 mm. As a second example, the diameter d of the combined RGB laser beam 33 as it impinges upon the negative spherical lens 71 may be 0.45 mm, and the diameter D of the stabilized combined RGB laser beam 73 may be 2.5 mm.

[0080] A compact optical module 10″ incorporating these principles is shown in FIG. 14. This design is the same as the design of the compact optical module 10′ of FIG. 3, except beam equalizer optics 69 are inserted between the RGB laser package 12 and the lenses 14a, 14b, and 14c, and except beam expander optics 70 (comprised of the negative spherical lens 71 as the upstream lens and the positive spherical lens 72 as the downstream lens) are inserted along the path of the combined RGB laser beam 33 between the mirror 16c′ and the folding mirror 22 such that the folding mirror 22, horizontal mirror 24, and vertical mirror 20 receive the stabilized combined RGB laser beam 73 and direct it out the exit window 26. In fact, the beam equalizer optics 69 may be incorporated within the exit window of the RGB laser package 12′, or the exit window may be shaped so as to perform this functionality.

[0081] Appreciate that instead of the compact optical module 10″ matching the design of the compact optical module 10′, but with the addition of the beam equalizer optics 69 and beam expander optics 70, the compact optical module 10″ could instead match the design of the compact module 10 but with the addition of the beam equalizer optics 69 and beam expander optics 70.

[0082] The compact optical module 10′″ shown in FIG. 15 places the beam equalizer optics 69′ between the exit window of the RGB laser package 12 and the lenses 14a, 14b, 14c. Thus, in the compact optical module 10′″, the slow axis divergence is increased for the individual laser beams 30, 31, and 32.

[0083] Appreciate that instead of the compact optical module 10′″ matching the design of the compact optical module 10′, but with the addition of the beam equalizer optics 69 and beam expander optics 70, the compact optical module 10′″ could instead match the design of the compact module 10 but with the additional of the beam equalizer optics 69 and beam expander optics 70.

[0084] In another example of compact optical module 10″″, shown in FIG. 16, the prism 40′ within the RGB laser package 12′ (also shown in perspective view in FIG. 2) may have its cross section shaped so as to generate the desired amount of extra slow axis divergence such that the slow axis divergence and fast axis divergence match. This example proves to be space saving, since the cylindrical spherical lens 69 is eliminated, and its function is instead performed by the prism 40′ which was already present. A cross section of the prism 40′ within the RGB laser package 12′ during operation when increasing slow axis divergence may be seen in FIG. 17. The cross section of the prism 40′ is different along the fast axis than along the slow axis, as shown in FIG. 18, so that the fast axis divergence remains unchanged by the prism 40′.

[0085] In the compact optical module 10″″, instead of the RGB laser package 12′ containing a single prism utilized by the laser diodes 12a, 12b, and 12c, three separate prisms 40a′, 40b′, and 40c′ may instead be utilized. Such an example is shown in FIG. 19.

[0086] The improvements provided by this design may be observed in FIG. 20, where the beam spots formed in a scan pattern during operation of the compact optical module overlap. This eliminates the dark areas (Newton rings) that could occur is the beam spots did not overlap.

[0087] While the disclosure has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments can be envisioned that do not depart from the scope of the disclosure as disclosed herein. Accordingly, the scope of the disclosure shall be limited only by the attached claims.