JP2019197820A - Laser device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a laser device that does not allow a light source to be removed from a holder without damaging the light source, that makes the light source unusable.SOLUTION: A laser device includes one or more light sources 1 each having a stem 7a having a molten metal applied thereto, and one or more metal holders 2 holding one or more light sources 1 and provided correspondingly to the one or more light sources 1, and each of the light sources 1 and each of the holders 2 are directly joined by laser welding to the molten metal with a laser element having a high light absorption rate.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser device that collects light from a plurality of light sources with a condenser lens and couples the light to an optical fiber.

  In order to increase the output of a laser, a light emitting device is known in which light obtained by combining light from a plurality of light sources is incident on a light receiving device such as an optical fiber (Patent Document 1).

  This light emitting device employs a method in which a light emitting diode (LED), a semiconductor laser, or the like is used as a light source, and light from each light source is coupled to an optical fiber using an optical system such as a lens or a prism.

  In this case, each semiconductor laser is attached to a metal holder in order to dissipate heat generated by its own laser. Each semiconductor laser is attached to a metal holder by screwing, bonding, or soldering.

Japanese Patent No. 3228098

  However, with the mounting method described above, the semiconductor laser can be removed from the holder without damaging the semiconductor laser. For this reason, there is a possibility that it may be used or misused by the manufacturer.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a laser device that cannot remove a light source from a holder without damaging the light source, and that makes the light source unusable.

  The invention of claim 1 of the laser device according to the present invention is provided corresponding to one or more light sources each having a stem, each of which has a molten metal applied thereto, and the one or more light sources. One or more metal holders for holding the above light sources, and each light source and each holder are directly joined to the molten metal by laser welding with a laser element having a high light absorption rate. It is characterized by that.

  The invention of claim 2 is characterized in that a wavelength of the laser element is in a range of 400 nm to 500 nm.

  The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the molten metal of the stem is a copper alloy or gold plating.

  According to the present invention, molten metal is applied to the light source, and when each light source and each holder are laser welded by a laser element having a high light absorption rate with respect to the molten metal, the molten metal is melted, and each light source and each The holder is directly joined.

  Therefore, the light source cannot be removed from the holder without damaging the light source, and the light source cannot be reused.

It is a schematic block diagram of the laser apparatus of Example 1 of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the light source and holder provided in the laser apparatus of Example 1 of this invention.

(Example 1)
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a laser apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The laser apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes a plurality of light sources 1, a plurality of holders 2, a plurality of collimating lenses 3, a housing 4, a condenser lens 5, and an optical fiber 6.

  The plurality of light sources 1 are made of, for example, a semiconductor laser (LD) or a light emitting diode (LED), and the light sources 1 are arranged at substantially equal intervals. Although the number of the plurality of light sources 1 is five in the example of FIG. 1, the number of the plurality of light sources 1 may be other numbers without being limited thereto.

  The plurality of collimating lenses 3 are provided corresponding to the plurality of light sources 1, arranged at positions facing the plurality of light sources 1, and collimate each emitted light from the plurality of light sources 1.

  The plurality of holders 2 are provided corresponding to the plurality of collimating lenses 3, and each holder 2 holds the pair of light sources 1 and the collimating lens 3 and sets the collimating light emitting position and the emitting angle of the collimating lens 3. adjust.

  The housing 4 holds a plurality of holders 2 and is made of resin or the like. Inside the housing 4, a condensing lens 5 is disposed at a position corresponding to the plurality of collimating lenses 3.

  The condensing lens 5 corresponds to the condensing unit of the present invention, condenses the outgoing light from each collimating lens 3 whose outgoing position and outgoing angle are adjusted, and couples it to the optical fiber 6. The optical fiber 6 transmits the light collected by the condenser lens 5.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the light source 1 and the holder 2 provided in the laser apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, the light source 1 is formed of a cylindrical CAN type semiconductor laser, and includes a stem 7a formed of a cylindrical body and a cylindrical body 7b having a smaller diameter than the outer diameter of the stem 7a.

  The stem 7a is a copper alloy or iron surface plated with gold and corresponds to the molten metal of the present invention. The portion irradiated by the laser beam from the blue laser 8 is melted in the stem 7a in which the copper alloy or iron is plated with gold.

  The stem 7a may be made of stainless steel or copal alloy instead of gold plating on the surface of copper alloy or iron.

  The holder 2 has a circular shape and is made of a metal such as stainless steel or copper. The holder 2 is provided with a hole 20 for inserting the light source 1 and the collimating lens 3. The hole 20 includes a hole 20a having a diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the stem 7a of the light source 1, and a hole 20b having a diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the cylindrical body 7b of the light source 1.

  The stem 7a is inserted into the hole 20a, the cylindrical body 7b is inserted into the hole 20b, and the stem 7a comes into contact with the bottom surface of the hole 20a and stops due to the step between the hole 20a and the hole 20b.

  The blue laser 8 outputs a laser having a wavelength of 400 nm to 500 nm, and has a very high light absorption rate to difficult-to-process materials such as copper and gold.

  On the other hand, the CO2 laser and the YAG laser are near infrared lasers, and have a low light absorption rate for difficult-to-work materials such as copper and gold.

  For this reason, in Example 1, the blue laser 8 is used to irradiate the joint surface between the stem 7a obtained by gold plating the copper alloy or iron of the light source 1 and the hole 20a of the holder 2 with blue laser light. And laser welding. The laser welding conditions and the number of irradiation points vary depending on the size of the light source 1 and the required strength.

  Since the blue laser 8 has a very high light absorption rate for difficult-to-process materials such as copper and gold, the gold plating applied to the copper alloy or iron of the stem 7a is melted, and the holes of the stem 7a and the holder 2 are melted. 20a is directly joined.

  That is, by directly joining the light source 1 and the holder 2, it becomes difficult to disassemble the light source 1 from the holder 2 without damaging the light source 1, and the light source 1 cannot be reused.

  Thus, according to the laser apparatus of Example 1, the stem 7a of the light source 1 is gold-plated on copper alloy or iron, and the copper alloy or iron is irradiated with the blue laser 8 having a high light absorption rate with respect to the gold plating. Thereby, each light source 1 and each holder 2 are laser-welded. Then, gold plating melts into copper alloy or iron, and each light source 1 and each holder 2 are directly joined.

  Therefore, the light source 1 cannot be removed from the holder 2 without damaging the light source 1, and the light source cannot be reused.

  The present invention is applicable to an optical coupling device or the like that condenses laser beams from a plurality of light sources and couples them to one optical fiber.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Light source 2 Holder 3 Collimating lens 4 Housing 5 Condensing lens 6 Optical fiber 7a Stem 7b Cylindrical body 8 Blue laser 20, 20a, 20b Hole

Claims (3)

One or more light sources each having a stem, each stem being provided with molten metal;
One or more metal holders that are provided corresponding to the one or more light sources and hold the one or more light sources;
Each of the light sources and each of the holders are directly joined by laser welding to the molten metal with a laser element having a high light absorption rate.   2. The laser device according to claim 1, wherein a wavelength of the laser element is in a range of 400 nm to 500 nm. The laser apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the molten metal of the stem is a copper alloy or gold plating.

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