Extending life of solid state laser by activating inactive laser strips arranged in spaces between active laser strips if active strip fails

摘要

A laser bar (1) is provided with at least one group (2b,2d,2f..) of additional, inactive laser strips arranged in the intermediate spaces between two adjacent active laser strips. No current is supplied to the inactive strips while current is supplied to the active strips. During long-term operation, the functionality of the active laser strips (2a,2c,2e..) is checked. If one or more of the active strips fails, at least one of the inactive laser strips is activated. Independent claims are included for a method of increasing the laser power of solid state lasers, a laser bar and a solid state laser.