Abstract

Design, fabrication, and testing results are given for a laser diode collimator which uses a binary optics corrector (BOC). Previous collimator designs used an acylindrical lens which was difficult and expensive to fabricate. The BOC was designed for use on a flat fused silica substrate which was cemented to a biconvex cylindrical F/1 microlens to form a single-axis collimator for a linear array of laser diode outputs at 860 nm. Test results show that the microcollimator system is diffraction-limited (100% localized Strehl ratio). The tolerance analysis indicates a highly producible lens with high yield. The capital equipment requirements to process and fabricate the BOC are modest and very cost-effective when compared to alternate approaches. Both a two-level and an eight-level BOC were produced as part of the development process, with both performing as predicted by the design analysis. Standard antireflection coatings were applied to achieve high transmission. Assembly of the lens and corrector required only that the pieces be placed on a suitably flat surface and bonded together.

© 1989 Optical Society of America