JPH05225575A - Laser beam emitting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a laser beam emitting device unnecessitating a large space at the time of adjusting an optical axis and thinning a device with simple constitution. CONSTITUTION:The optical axis of a collimate lens 20 and the rotation center of the lens holding cylinder 22 of a cylinder shape are made eccentric and the collimate lens 20 is attached to the lens holding cylinder 22. The lens holding cylinder 22 is inserted into the supporting frame 10 of a base 2 attaching a laser element to a rear wall 4. An adjusting hole 24 is formed on the lens holding cylinder 22 and the lens holding cylinder 22 is made rotatably by using the hole 24. Then a pressing spring is inserted into a groove 30 and the lens holding cylinder 22 is energized and an adjusting base 14 is set movably along a moving groove 18 and the lens holding cylinder 22 is arranged movably in the direction of intersecting orthogonally with the optical axis of the laser element.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser light emitting device used for an optical head or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a laser beam emitting apparatus, it is necessary to accurately align the optical axes of a laser element and a collimator lens for collimating the light emitted from this laser element. To this end, a collimator lens is attached to a support table that supports the laser element via two sliding plates, and the collimator lens can be moved in two directions orthogonal to the optical axis of the laser element and orthogonal to each other. As the laser light emitting device supported by the above, there are known those disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 59-157228 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 61-50912. As an example of this, the latter device will be described with reference to FIG. In this device,
The laser element 50 is fixed to the support base 52. The support base 52 has a first sliding plate 54 that is vertically movable.
Is attached. A second sliding plate 56 that is movable in the horizontal direction is attached to the first sliding plate 54. The collimator lens 5 is attached to the second sliding plate 56.
A support member 60 for supporting 8 is formed. The collimator lens 58 is supported on the support member 60 so as to be movable in the optical axis direction. In this way, the laser beam is orthogonal to the optical axis of the laser element 50 and is orthogonal to each other.
The collimator lens 58 is movably supported in the direction.

[0003]

However, in this apparatus, since the collimator lens is configured to move in two directions which are orthogonal to the optical axis of the laser element and are also orthogonal to each other, the optical axis is A large space is required for the matching. Further, since the collimator lens is attached to the laser element via the two sliding plates, the structure becomes complicated and the device cannot be made thin. An object of the present invention is to provide a laser light emitting device that does not require a large space when performing optical axis alignment and can be thinned with a simple configuration.

[0004]

In a laser light emitting device of the present invention, a laser element, a collimator lens for collimating the light emitted from the laser element into parallel light, and an optical axis of the collimator lens for holding the collimator lens. A rotary body having a rotary shaft that is eccentric to the rotary body; and a support base that supports the laser element and is movable in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis of the collimator lens. The optical axes of the laser element and the collimator lens are aligned by rotating and moving.

[0005]

When aligning the optical axes of the laser element and the collimator lens in the laser light emitting device of the present invention, the rotating body that holds the collimator lens and has a rotation axis decentered from the optical axis of the collimator lens is rotated. , The rotating body is moved in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis of the collimator lens.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of a laser beam emitting apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS.

The laser light emitting apparatus of the first embodiment is provided with a base 2 which is a support as shown in FIG. The base 2 has a rear wall 4 having an opening (not shown) formed in the center. A semiconductor laser element 6 shown in FIG. 5 is fitted in the opening of the rear wall 4, and is fixed to the rear surface of the rear wall 4 with a screw 8. On the front surface of the rear wall 4, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, an elliptic cylindrical support frame 10 extends along the optical axis of the semiconductor laser device 6. This support frame 1
As shown in FIG. 6, a part of the outer peripheral surface of the adjusting screw 12
A fixing portion 16 for fixing the adjusting table 14 from below is formed. A moving groove 18 is formed in the fixing portion 16 so that the adjusting base 14 can be moved in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis of the semiconductor laser device 6, and the adjusting frame 14 is provided in the support frame 10. An opening is formed so that the inside of 10 can be rushed. Thus, the adjusting base 14 can be moved along the moving groove 18 so as to project into the inside of the support frame 10, and can be fixed to the fixing portion 16 at a predetermined position by the adjusting screw 12.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the support frame 1 is
In 0, a cylindrical lens holding cylinder 22 having a collimator lens 20 fixed at its tip is movably in the direction in which the moving groove 18 extends, that is, orthogonal to the optical axis of the semiconductor laser element 6. It is inserted movably in the direction and rotatably in the support frame 10. This lens holding cylinder 22
The optical axis A of the collimator lens 20 with respect to the rotation axis D
Is held eccentrically. That is, the lens holding cylinder 22 constitutes a rotating body that holds the collimator lens 20 and has a rotation axis D that is eccentric with respect to the optical axis of the collimator lens 20. An adjustment hole 24 is formed in a part of the peripheral wall of the lens holding cylinder 22. The lens holding cylinder 22 is rotated by using the adjustment hole 24 through the slit 26 formed in the peripheral wall of the support frame 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 6.

On the inner surface of the support frame 10, a pressing spring 28 is provided between the support frame 10 and the lens holding cylinder 22 from the front surface thereof.
A groove 30 for inserting the is formed. This groove 3
The pressure spring 28 inserted in 0 urges the lens holding cylinder 22 toward the adjustment base 14 side. Collimator lens 20
The lens holding cylinder 22 holding the lens is moved in the direction orthogonal to the optical axis of the semiconductor laser element 6 by the movement of the adjusting table 14 against the bias of the pressing spring 28. Next, the operation of the laser light emitting apparatus of the first embodiment configured as described above will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2, when there is a deviation between the optical axis of the collimator lens 20 shown by the point A and the optical axis of the semiconductor laser device 6 shown by the point C, first, the adjusting table 14 is moved. The adjustment hole 24 formed in the lens holding cylinder 22 is used up to the point B where the optical axis of the collimator lens 20 is located in the movable direction, that is, in the horizontal direction orthogonal to the optical axis of the semiconductor laser element 6. The lens holding cylinder 22 is rotated to move the optical axis of the collimator lens 20 to the point B. After that, the adjusting screw 12 is loosened, the lens holding cylinder 22 is moved against the biasing force of the pressing spring 28 by using the adjusting base 14, and the optical axis of the collimator lens 20 is aligned with the optical axis of the semiconductor laser element 6. .. In this way, the optical axis alignment between the semiconductor laser element 6 and the collimator lens 20 is completed.

With this structure, the semiconductor laser device 6
The optical axes of the collimator lens 20 and the collimator lens 20 can be aligned only by the rotation of the lens holding cylinder 22 and the movement of the semiconductor laser element 6 in the direction orthogonal to the optical axis. Therefore, the dimension indicated by Z in FIG. Can be made thinner.

Next, a second embodiment of the laser beam emitting device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The same members as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the apparatus of the second embodiment, the fixing portion 12 in the first embodiment is eliminated, and instead of the adjusting table 14, the moving screw 3 is used.
2 is used. This moving screw 32 is also the adjustment stand 1
Similar to 4, the lens holding cylinder 22 is moved in the direction orthogonal to the optical axis of the semiconductor laser element 6. According to this structure, since the lens holding cylinder 22 can be moved only by turning the moving screw 32, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained, and the number of parts can be reduced to reduce the cost. The structure can be simplified.

Next, a third embodiment of the laser light emitting device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The same members as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

In this embodiment, the support frame 10 in the first embodiment is eliminated, and instead of the pressing spring 28, a leaf spring 34 attached to the front surface of the rear wall 4 is used to move the lens holding cylinder 22 to the optical axis of the semiconductor laser device 6. Bias in a direction orthogonal to
It is in contact with the adjustment table 14. With this configuration,
The dimension indicated by Z in FIG. 16 can be made smaller than that of the first embodiment. Other effects are similar to those of the first embodiment. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and many embodiments and modifications are possible.

[0016]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a laser beam emitting apparatus which does not require a large space for optical axis alignment and has a simple structure and which can be made thin.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a laser light emitting apparatus of a first embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the operation of the apparatus in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the device in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the device in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a rear view of the device in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the device in FIG. 4 taken along the line AA.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the device in FIG. 4 taken along the line BB.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a laser emitting device of a second embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the device in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a top view of the device in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a rear view of the device in FIG.

12 is a cross-sectional view of the device in FIG. 10 taken along the line AA.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing a laser emitting device of a third embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a front view of the device in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a top view of the device in FIG.

FIG. 16 is a rear view of the device in FIG.

17 is a sectional view of the device in FIG. 15 taken along the line AA.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing a conventional laser light emitting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Base, 6 ... Semiconductor laser element, 14 ... Adjusting stand, 2
0 ... Collimator lens, 22 ... Lens holding cylinder, 24 ... Adjustment hole, 28 ... Pressing spring, 32 ... Moving screw, 34 ... Leaf spring.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A laser element, a collimator lens for collimating light emitted from the laser element into parallel light, and a rotating body which holds the collimator lens and has a rotation axis eccentric to the optical axis of the collimator lens, A support base that supports the laser element and movably supports the rotating body in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis of the collimator lens, and the laser element and the collimator lens are rotated and moved by the rotating body. A laser beam emitting device characterized by performing optical axis alignment with.