High brightness beam shaping and fiber coupling of laser-diode bars

The strong beam quality mismatch in the fast and slow axes of laser-diode bars requires a significant beam shaping method to reach the parameters needed for fiber coupling. An effective solution to this problem is proposed that is based on a right-angle prism array and a distributed cylinder-lens stack. Coupling 12 mini-bars into a standard 100 μm core diameter and 0.15 numerical aperture fiber is achieved, and the output power can reach 400 W. Using this technique, production of compact and high brightness fiber-coupled laser-diode modules is possible.