TRANSFORMATION DEVICE FOR LASER RADIATION

Abstract

Transformation device (1) for laser radiation (7), comprising a first array (2) of cylindrical lenses (3) arranged side by side in a first direction (x) and a second array (4) of cylindrical lenses (5) arranged side by side in the first direction (x), it being provided that during operation of the transformation device (1) the laser radiation (7) to be transformed first passes through the first array (2) and then through the second array (4), and wherein in each case one of the cylindrical lenses (3) of the first array (2) is associated with one of the cylindrical lenses (5) of the second array (4) in such a way that an array of reducing telescopes results, wherein the cylinder axes (6) of the cylindrical lenses (3) of the first array (2) enclose an angle (γ) greater than 45° and less than 90° with the first direction (x).

Claims

1. Transformation device (1) for laser radiation (7), comprising a first array (2) of cylindrical lenses (3) arranged side by side in a first direction (x) and a second array (4) of cylindrical lenses (5) arranged side by side in the first direction (x), it being provided that during operation of the transformation device (1) the laser radiation (7) to be transformed first passes through the first array (2) and then through the second array (4), and wherein in each case one of the cylindrical lenses (3) of the first array (2) is associated with one of the cylindrical lenses (5) of the second array (4) in such a way that an array of reducing telescopes results, characterized in that the cylinder axes (6) of the cylindrical lenses (3) of the first array (2) enclose an angle (γ) greater than 45° and less than 90° with the first direction (x).

2. Transformation device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the cylinder axes (6) of the cylindrical lenses (5) of the second array (4) are parallel to the cylinder axes (6) of the cylindrical lenses (3) of the first array (2).

3. Transformation device (1) according to one of claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the cylinder axes (6) of the cylindrical lenses (3, 5) of the first and/or second array (2, 4) enclose an angle (γ) greater than 46° and less than 60° with the first direction (x).

4. Transformation device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that all cylindrical lenses (3) of the first array (2) have the same focal lengths (F.sub.3) and/or the same radii of curvature (R.sub.3) and/or that all cylindrical lenses (5) of the second array (4) have the same focal lengths (F.sub.5) and/or the same radii of curvature (R.sub.5).

5. Transformation device (1) according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the reduction factor (Γ) of the telescopes is greater than 1, in particular between 1.1 and 3.

6. Transformation device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that for the reduction factor (Γ) of the telescopes the following applies
Γ=F.sub.3/F.sub.5=R.sub.3/R.sub.5, where F.sub.3 is the focal length of the cylindrical lenses (3) of the first array (2), F.sub.5 is the focal length of the cylindrical lenses (5) of the second array (4), R.sub.3 is the radius of curvature of the cylindrical lenses (3) of the first array (2) and R.sub.5 is the radius of curvature of the cylindrical lenses (5) of the second array (4).

7. Transformation device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the cylinder axes (6) of the cylindrical lenses (3, 5) of the first and/or second array (2, 4) enclose an angle (γ) with the first direction (x), for which the following applies:
γ=arctan(√(Γ))

8. Transformation device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the first and second arrays (2, 4) of cylindrical lenses (3, 5) are formed on one, in particular monolithic, substrate.

9. Transformation device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the cylindrical lenses (3, 5) of the first and/or the second array (2, 4) are refractive lenses or gradient index lenses.

10. Transformation device for laser radiation, comprising a first array of cylindrical mirrors arranged side by side in a first direction and a second array of cylindrical mirrors arranged side by side in the first direction, it being provided that during operation of the transformation device the laser radiation to be transformed first is reflected by the first array and then reflected by the second array, and wherein in each case one of the cylindrical mirrors of the first array is associated with one of the cylindrical mirrors of the second array in such a way that an array of reducing telescopes results, characterized in that the cylinder axes of the cylindrical mirrors of the first array enclose an angle (γ) greater than 45° and less than 90° with the first direction.

11. Laser device comprising a laser light source (10) which emits laser radiation (7) during operation of the laser device, a transformation device (1) for the laser radiation (7) emanating from the laser light source (10), having a first array (2) of cylindrical lenses (3) or cylindrical mirrors which are arranged next to one another in the first direction (x), and a second array (4) of cylindrical lenses (5) or cylindrical mirrors which are arranged next to one another in the first direction (x), in each case one of the cylindrical lenses (3) or the cylindrical mirrors of the first array (2) being assigned in this way to one of the cylindrical lenses (5) or the cylindrical mirrors of the second array (4), that a partial beam (7a, 7b, 7c, 7d) of the laser radiation (7) passing through a cylindrical lens (3) of the first array (2) or being reflected by the cylindrical mirrors of the first array passes at least substantially through the associated cylindrical lens (5) of the second array (4) or being at least substantially reflected by the cylindrical mirrors of the second array, and wherein the cross-section of this partial beam (7a, 7b, 7c, 7d) on the cylindrical lens (3) or the cylindrical mirror of the first array (2) is larger than the cross-section of the partial beam (7a, 7b, 7c, 7d) on the associated cylindrical lens (5) or the cylindrical mirror of the second array (4), especially wherein the transformation device (1) is a transformation device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the cylinder axes (6) of the cylindrical lenses (3) or the cylindrical mirrors of the first array (2) enclose an angle (γ) greater than 45° and less than 90° with the first direction (x).

12. Laser device according to claim 11, characterized in that the laser light source (10) is designed as a semiconductor laser, in particular as a laser diode bar, for example as a laser diode bar with a plurality of emitters which spaced at a distance of about 200 μm from one another.

13. Laser device according to any one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that the laser device comprises at least one fast axis collimating lens (11) which is arranged between the laser light source (10) and the transformation device (1), in particular wherein the fast axis collimating lens (11) collimates the laser radiation (7) emitted by the laser light source (10) in a second direction (y) perpendicular to the first direction (x).

14. Laser device according to one of claim 10 or 11, characterized in that the laser light source (10) can emit multi-mode laser radiation in which both the beam quality factor (M.sub.x.sup.2) with respect to the first direction (x) perpendicular to the direction of propagation (z) of the laser radiation (7) is greater than 1, in particular greater than 2, and the beam quality factor (M.sub.y.sup.2) with respect to the second direction (y) perpendicular to the direction of propagation (z) is greater than 1, in particular greater than 2, the arrays (2, 4) of the transformation device (1) being designed and arranged in the laser device in such a way that the laser radiation (7) impinging on the transformation device (1) is transformed in such a way that the beam quality factor (M.sub.x.sup.2) of the laser radiation (7) is increased with respect to the first direction (x) and the beam quality factor (M.sub.y.sup.2) of the laser radiation (7) is reduced with respect to the second direction (y).

15. Laser device according to one of claim 10, 11 or 14, characterized in that the laser light source (10) is designed as a Nd-YAG laser or as an excimer laser or as an ultraviolet Diode Pumped Solid State (DPSS) laser.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

[0024] Further features and advantages of the present invention will become clear on the basis of the following description of preferred exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying illustrations, in which:

[0025] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a transformation device according to the invention;

[0026] FIG. 2 shows a schematic side view of an embodiment of a laser device according to the invention;

[0027] FIG. 3 shows a top view of the laser device according to FIG. 2;

[0028] FIG. 4 shows a schematic front view of a detail of an embodiment of a transformation device according to the invention with a schematically indicated laser radiation;

[0029] FIG. 5 shows a schematic section according to the arrows V-V in FIG. 4;

[0030] FIG. 6 shows a schematic front view of a detail of an embodiment of a transformation device according to the invention with a schematically indicated laser radiation;

[0031] FIG. 7 shows a front view of a detail of a first array of an embodiment of a transformation device according to the invention with a schematically indicated laser radiation;

[0032] FIG. 8 shows a front view of a detail of a second array of the transformation device according to FIG. 6 with the schematically indicated laser radiation.

[0033] In the figures, identical and functionally identical parts are marked with the same reference signs. Furthermore, Cartesian coordinate systems are inserted in some of the figures for better orientation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] The embodiment of a transformation device 1 according to the invention shown in FIG. 1 comprises a first array 2 of cylindrical lenses 3 which are arranged side by side in the first direction x, and a second array 4 of cylindrical lenses 5 which are also arranged side by side in the first direction x. The arrays 2, 4 are arranged on the front and back side of a substrate so that a cylindrical lens 3 of the first array 2 is opposite a cylindrical lens 5 of the second array 4. Here, the cylindrical lenses 3, 5 are monolithically formed on the substrate.

[0035] The cylindrical lenses 3, 5 of the first and second arrays 2, 4 are each oriented so that their cylinder axes 6 form an angle γ with the x-direction (see FIG. 1) which is greater than 45°, in particular between 46° and 60°. Furthermore, the focal lengths and radii of curvature of all cylindrical lenses 4 of the first array 2 are the same. Furthermore, the focal lengths and radii of curvature of all cylindrical lenses 5 of the second array 3 are also the same.

[0036] It is intended that during the operation of the transformation device 1 the laser radiation to be transformed passes first through the first array 2 and then through the second array 4, whereby the laser radiation is divided into a plurality of partial beams by the cylindrical lenses 3 of the first array 2. A partial beam passing through a cylindrical lens 3 of the first array 2 passes through the opposite cylindrical lens 5 of the second array 4.

[0037] The individual partial beams are transformed by the cylindrical lenses 3, 5 inclined against the x-direction in such a way that after passing through the transformation device 1 their cross-sections appear mirrored relative to corresponding vertex lines 8 of the cylindrical lenses 3, 5, like shown schematically in FIG. 6, wherein the input beam ABCD transforms into the output beam A′B′C′D′.

[0038] In the case of a laser radiation which is a multi-mode laser radiation and which has a beam quality factor M.sub.x.sup.2, M.sub.y.sup.2 greater than 2 with respect to both the first direction x and the second direction y, it can be achieved by the transformation that the beam quality factor M.sub.x.sup.2 of the laser radiation is increased with respect to the first direction x and the beam quality factor M.sub.y.sup.2 of the laser radiation is reduced with respect to the second direction y. Typical laser light sources for such laser radiation are for example a Nd-YAG laser or an excimer laser or an ultraviolet Diode Pumped Solid State (DPSS) laser.

[0039] The opposing cylindrical lenses 3, 5 of the first and second arrays 2, 4 each form a telescope, especially a Kepler telescope. The distance between the opposing cylindrical lenses 3, 5, which form a telescope, is equal to the sum of the focal lengths of these lenses.

[0040] Here, the focal lengths of the cylindrical lenses 3 of the first array 2 are larger than the focal lengths of the cylindrical lenses 5 of the second array 4, making the telescopes formed by the opposing cylindrical lenses 3, 5 reducing telescopes. The reduction factor I′ of the telescopes is greater than 1, especially between 1.1 and 3.

[0041] FIG. 7 illustrates schematically the impingement of a laser radiation 7 on the first array 2 of cylindrical lenses 3, whereby for the sake of simplicity only four cylindrical lenses 3 are indicated here. The laser radiation 7 has an elongated oval cross-section. With p the distance of the vertex lines 8 of adjacent cylindrical lenses 3 is marked. The laser beam 7 is divided by the first array 2 into a plurality of partial beams 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d.

[0042] FIG. 8 shows the impingement of these partial beams 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d on the second array 4 of cylindrical lenses 5. It can be seen that the partial beams 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d are mirrored with regard to the vertex lines 8 and reduced in size according to the reduction factor Γ. This reduction contributes to the fact that the partial beams 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d do not impinge in the transition area between individual cylindrical lenses 5 and neighboring lenses of the second array 4.

[0043] FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 illustrate how individual beams of the laser radiation are transformed by the transformation device 1. One of the telescopes is only shown schematically. The cylindrical lenses 3, 5 are drawn as separate lenses for clarification. However, they can be formed by the entrance surface and the exit surface of a monolithic substrate as shown in FIG. 1.

[0044] It can be seen from FIG. 5 that the focal length F.sub.3 of the cylindrical lenses 3 of the first array 2 is greater than the focal length F.sub.5 of the cylindrical lenses 5 of the second array 4, and accordingly a beam entering the cylindrical lens 3 of the first array 2 at a distance H from the optical axis 9 after passing through the cylinder lens 5 of the second array 4 will have a smaller distance H′ from the optical axis 9. The same applies to a beam entering the cylindrical lens 3 of the first array 2 at a smaller distance h from the optical axis 9. FIG. 5 shows that after passing through the cylindrical lens 5 of the second array 4, this beam has an even smaller distance h′ to the optical axis 9. FIG. 4 shows these conditions in the front view.

[0045] Accordingly, the following applies

Γ=H/H′=h/h′=R.sub.3/R.sub.5=F.sub.3/F.sub.5,  [equation 1]

[0046] where R.sub.3 are the radii of the cylindrical lenses 3 of the first array 2 and R.sub.5 are the radii of the cylindrical lenses 5 of the second array 4. The radii R.sub.3, R.sub.5 of the cylindrical lenses 3, 5 can be of several millimeters when using the transformation device for anisotropic beam shaping to generate a laser line.

[0047] With the aid of FIG. 4, a relationship between the angle γ and the reduction factor Γ of the telescope can be derived. It can be seen that tan(γ)=√Γ is for Γ>0. From this follows for the angle γ:

γ=arctan(√(Γ))  [equation 2]

[0048] The simultaneous satisfaction of the equation 1 and 2 provides mirroring of the outcoming partial beam cross-sections with regard to the vertex lines 8 of the cylindrical lenses 3, 5.

[0049] From FIG. 4 it can further be derived that a beam which has an extension in x-direction of x on the cylindrical lens 3 of the first array 2 has an extension in y-direction of y′ on the cylindrical lens 5 of the second array 4 (see FIG. 4). For y′ applies then:

[00001]$\begin{array}{cc}{y}^{\prime }=\frac{x}{\tan \left(\gamma \right)}=\frac{x}{\sqrt{\Gamma }}& \left[\mathrm{equation}3\right]\end{array}$

[0050] Accordingly, it can be further derived from FIG. 4 that a beam which has an extension in y-direction of y on the cylinder lens 3 of the first array 2 has an extension in x-direction of x′ on the cylinder lens 5 of the second array 4 (see FIG. 4). For x′ applies then:

[00002]$\begin{array}{cc}{x}^{\prime }=\frac{y}{\tan \left(\gamma \right)}=\frac{y}{\sqrt{\Gamma }}& \left[\mathrm{equation}4\right]\end{array}$

[0051] It can be seen from the equations that the height and width of the segment at the output of the transformation device decrease by tan(γ) times, provided that Γ>1.

[0052] From these considerations, the working principle of the transformation device on an incident intensity distribution could be also described in the context of affine maps, which preserve the following properties:

1. collinearity
2. parallelism
3. convexity of sets
4. ratios of lengths along a line
5. barycenters of weighted collections of points.

[0053] The affine map of the transformation device should be denoted .sub.ω(Γ)∈.sup.2 in image space and .sub.θ(Γ)∈.sup.2 in angular space and reads as follows:

F.sub.ω(Γ)=R(Γ).sup.T.Math.S(Γ).Math.R(Γ)

F.sub.θ(Γ)=R(Γ).sup.T.Math.S.sup.−1(Γ).Math.R(Γ),  [equation 5]

where

[00003]$\begin{array}{cc}\begin{array}{c}ℛ\left(\Gamma \right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\cos \left[\gamma \right]& \sin \left[\gamma \right]\\ -s\mathrm{in}\left[\gamma \right]& \cos \left[\gamma \right]\end{array}\right)\\ =\left(\begin{array}{cc}\cos \left[\mathrm{arc}\tan \left(\sqrt{\Gamma }\right)\right]& \sin \left[\mathrm{arc}\tan \left(\sqrt{\Gamma }\right)\right]\\ -s\mathrm{in}\left[\mathrm{arc}\tan \left(\sqrt{\Gamma }\right)\right]& \cos \left[\mathrm{arc}\tan \left(\sqrt{\Gamma }\right)\right]\end{array}\right)\end{array}& \end{array}$$\begin{array}{cc}S\left(\Gamma \right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& -\frac{1}{\Gamma }\end{array}\right).& \left[\mathrm{equation}6\right]\end{array}$

[0054] Here, the (Γ)∈.sup.2 represents a scaling operation with respect to the y-axis. For mirroring and scaling with respect to the vertex line 8 a basis transformation is required, which is given by the well-known 2D rotation matrices (Γ). Furthermore, scaling in angular and image space exhibit an inverted behavior and hence (Γ) has to be inverted.

[0055] After a short simplifying calculation, this transforms into:

[00004]$\begin{array}{cc}\begin{array}{c}{F}_{\omega }\left(\Gamma \right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}-\frac{1}{\Gamma }{\sin \left(\gamma \right)}^2+{\cos \left(\gamma \right)}^2& \frac{1}{\Gamma }\sin \left(\gamma \right)\cos \left(\gamma \right)+\sin \left(\gamma \right)\cos \left(\gamma \right)\\ \frac{1}{\Gamma }\sin \left(\gamma \right)\cos \left(\gamma \right)+\sin \left(\gamma \right)\cos \left(\gamma \right)& -\frac{1}{\Gamma }{\cos \left(\gamma \right)}^2+{\sin \left(\gamma \right)}^2\end{array}\right)\\ =\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& \frac{1}{\sqrt{\Gamma }}\\ \frac{1}{\sqrt{\Gamma }}& 1-\frac{1}{\Gamma }\end{array}\right),\end{array}& \end{array}$$\begin{array}{cc}{F}_{\theta }\left(\Gamma \right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1-\Gamma & \sqrt{\Gamma }\\ \sqrt{\Gamma }& 0\end{array}\right)& \left[\mathrm{equation}7\right]\end{array}$

[0056] Consequently equations (3) and (4) are special cases of input vectors along the coordinate vectors and are obtained by:

[00005]$\begin{array}{cc}{r}^{\prime }=\left(\begin{array}{c}{x}^{\prime }\\ y^{\prime }\end{array}\right)={ℱ}_{\omega }\left(\Gamma \right)\left(\begin{array}{c}x\\ 0\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ \frac{x}{\sqrt{\Gamma }}\end{array}\right)& \end{array}$$\begin{array}{cc}{r}^{\prime }=\left(\begin{array}{c}{x}^{\prime }\\ y^{\prime }\end{array}\right)=F_{\omega }\left(\Gamma \right)\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ y\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}\frac{y}{\sqrt{\Gamma }}\\ y\left(1-\frac{1}{\Gamma }\right)\end{array}\right).& \left[\mathrm{equation}8\right]\end{array}$

[0057] In FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 a laser device is shown which comprises a laser diode bar as laser light source 10. In the top view according to FIG. 3 only three emitters of this laser diode bar are shown. The laser diode bar, for example, can be a high-power bar with 22 emitters and a wavelength of 980 nm. The individual emitters can each be 130 μm in size in the slow-axis direction, which corresponds to the x-direction in the example shown. The individual emitters can each be 1.6 μm in size in the fast axis direction, which corresponds to the y direction in the example shown. The individual emitters can have a pitch of 200 μm in the slow axis direction or the x-direction. The numerical aperture in the slow-axis direction or the x-direction can be ±4.25°. The numerical aperture in the fast axis direction or the y-direction can be ±24.5°.

[0058] The laser device further comprises a fast axis collimating lens 11 between the laser light source 10 and the transformation device 1. The fast axis collimating lens 11 collimates the laser radiation 7 emitted by the individual emitters in the y-direction or in the fast axis direction. For example, the fast axis collimating lens 11 can have a focal length of 0.16 mm.

[0059] For use with such laser diode bars, the radii of the cylindrical lenses 3, 5 of the transformation device 1 can be about 0.2 to 1.5 mm.

[0060] By the described design of the transformation device 1, even when using a laser diode bar as laser light source 10 losses can be reduced by not impinging laser radiation into the regions of adjacent cylinder lenses 5 of the second array 4.