Multi-element optically pumped external cavity laser system

Claim 2

A laser system comprising: a) a housing; b) a frame formed of a thermally conductive member and adapted for movement within said housing; c) a remote source of a beam of optical pump light; and d) a plurality of quantum well structures adapted to be optically pumped by said beam and mounted on said member for alignment with said beam.

Claim 3

The system of claim 1 wherein the frame is rotationally moveable such that selected structures are moved into the path of said beam.

Claim 4

The system of claim 1 wherein the frame is linearly moveable such that selected structures are moved into the path of said beam.

Claim 5

The system of claim 1 wherein the quantum well structure is formed of alternate layers of III-V materials or alloys thereof.

Claim 6

The system of claim 4 wherein the III-V material comprises material from the group comprising Al, Ga or As.

Claim 7

The system of claim 1 wherein the quantum well structures are adapted to be selectively disposed between said beam and a tuning element.

Claim 10

The system of claim 7 wherein the tuning element is a diffraction grating.

Claim 11

The system of claim 7 wherein a lens is provided in the housing for focusing the pump source light on a facet of the quantum well lasers.

Claim 12

The system of claim 7 wherein the frame assembly is rotatable past the light.

Claim 13

The system of claim 7 wherein the frame assembly is linearly translatable past the light.

Claim 14

An external cavity system for a quantum well laser structures, comprising: a) a plurality of quantum well laser structures mounted on a frame assembly for insertion into a housing; b) a source of pump light for optically pumping the quantum well laser structures with a pump beam; c) means for moving the frame assembly with respect to the pump beam to cause selected quantum well laser structures to be pumped by said beam; and d) a tuning element disposed in the housing for reflecting laser light emitted from said selected quantum well laser structure back upon a facet thereof from said tuning element thereby causing the selected quantum well laser to emit substantially single frequency light.

Claim 15

An external cavity system for a quantum well laser structures, comprising: a) a plurality of quantum well laser structures mounted on a frame assembly for insertion into a housing; b) a source of pump light for optically pumping the quantum well laser structures with a pump beam; c) means for moving the frame assembly with respect to the pump beam to cause selected quantum well laser structures to be pumped by said beam; and d) a tuning element disposed in the housing for reflecting laser light emitted from said selected quantum well laser structure back upon a facet thereof from said tuning element thereby causing the selected quantum well laser to emit substantially single frequency light.

Claim 16

The system of claim 12 in which the structure is formed of layers of quantum wells is longitudinally pumped in a direction orthogonal to the layers.

Claim 17

The system of claim 12 in which the structure is formed of quantum well layers and is transversely pumped in a direction parallel to the layers.

Claim 18

The system of claim 12 wherein the quantum well laser is formed of III-V material.

Claim 19

An external cavity system for a quantum well laser device, comprising: a) a plurality of quantum well structures affixed to a frame mounted in a housing; b) a pump source for generating a pump beam capable of stimulating light emission from a first facet of said quantum well structures; c) scanning means for causing relative movement between said pump beam and said quantum well structures to selectively direct said beam upon a respective second facet opposite said first facet of said quantum well structures; and an external cavity in which a tuning element is disposed adjacent said quantum well structure and wherein light emitted from the first facet of a respective quantum well structure is dispersed by said tuning element and the dispersed light is reflected back upon said first facet; thereby causing the quantum well laser to emit substantially single frequency light within the frequency range of the dispersed light from the grating.

Claim 20

An external cavity system for a quantum well laser device, comprising: a) a plurality of quantum well structures affixed to a frame mounted in a housing; b) a pump source for generating a pump beam capable of stimulating light emission from a first facet of said quantum well structures; c) scanning means for causing relative movement between said pump beam and said quantum well structures to selectively direct said beam upon a respective second facet opposite said first facet of said quantum well structures; and an external cavity in which a tuning element is disposed adjacent said quantum well structure and wherein light emitted from the first facet of a respective quantum well structure is dispersed by said tuning element and the dispersed light is reflected back upon said first facet; thereby causing the quantum well laser to emit substantially single frequency light within the frequency range of the dispersed light from the grating.

Claim 21

The system of claim 16 wherein the quantum well structure is formed of layers of III-V material.

Claim 22

The system of claim 17 in which the quantum well structure is pumped in a direction traverse the layers.

Claim 23

The system of claim 16 in which the quantum well structure is pumped in a direction parallel to the layers.

Claim 26

The method of claim 20 wherein the chip is selected by moving the frame with respect to the pump beam such that the selected chip is brought into alignment therewith.

Claim 27

The method of claim 20 wherein optical pumping is supplied by a fiber optic coupled to a remote electrically pumped laser diode.

Claim 28

The method of claim 22 wherein the pump beam is circularly symmetric.

Claim 29

The method of claim 20 wherein a dispersive grating is used to disperse the light.