POLARISATION OPTICAL COMBINATION OF PULSED LASER DIODES WITH A TIME-OFFSET FOR IMPROVING THE PERFORMANCE OF A LASER BEAM

摘要

The invention relates to a method and a device for producing a laser beam of high brilliance, using laser diodes as the laser source, in particular for machining materials. The invention is characterised in that the laser diodes are operated in a pulsed mode and the individual pulses are recombined in a beam recombiner. In a preferred embodiment, 2n+1 laser diodes (1, 2, ... 16) are operated in a pulsed mode, two respective laser diodes with a different polarisation are activated simultaneously and the individual pulses are recombined in a beam recombiner, consisting of a cascade of polarisation-selective optical elements (PS4, PS3, ... PS1), arranged successively in n + 1 stages in the beam path and respective switchable polarisation rotators (PD3, PD2, PD1), located between said stages.