Laser fault tolerance and self-calibration system

• US 10,447,004 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2016
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nlight Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nlight Inc.
• Inventors: Foley, Robert Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Hossain, Moazzam
• Application Number:
  US15/355,996
• Publication Number:
  US 20170149203A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,061 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4065 Monitoring tool breakage, life or condition
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31366 Operate faulty tool in degraded mode
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/33198 Laser, light link, infrared
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/06754 Fibre amplifiers H01S3/06708 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/094003 the pumped medium being a fibre
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/09408 Pump redundancy
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/1001 by controlling the optical pumping
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/10069 Memorized or pre-programmed characteristics, e.g. look-up table [LUT]
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/13013 by controlling the optical pumping
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/1305 Feedback control systems
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/1306 Stabilisation of the amplitude
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/0021 Degradation or life time measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/02251 using optical fibres
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/06825 Protecting the laser, e.g. during switch-on/off, detection of malfunctioning or degradation
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/4012 Beam combining, e.g. by the use of fibres, gratings, polarisers, prisms
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/4025 Array arrangements, e.g. constituted by discrete laser diodes or laser bar H01S5/42 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0825 using asymmetric-key encryption or public key infrastructure [PKI], e.g. key signature or public key certificates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3226 using a predetermined code, e.g. password, passphrase or PIN network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using passwords in a packet data network H04L63/083

Abstract

A laser diode system includes plurality of laser pumps, each of the plurality of laser pumps including a plurality of laser diode drivers and a plurality of laser diode elements, wherein each of the plurality of laser diode drivers is electrically coupled to power at least two of the plurality of laser diode elements. A combiner electrically is coupled to the plurality of laser diode elements to combine an output of each of the plurality of laser pumps to generate a combined output light. A controller identifies a failed laser pump or a failed laser diode element, receives an encoded key to gain access to the controller, and disables the failed laser pump or the failed laser diode element based at least in part on authenticating the encoded key.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting, at a computing device, a failed laser diode element or a failed laser pump in a laser diode system including a plurality of laser diode elements arranged in a plurality of laser pumps;

receiving, using the computing device, an encoded key after the detecting;

disabling, using the computing device, the failed laser diode element or the failed laser pump in the laser diode system based at least in part on the encoded key; and

recalibrating, using the computing device, the laser diode system after disabling the failed laser diode element or the failed laser pump,

wherein the failed laser diode element or failed laser pump comprises a first laser diode element or a first laser pump and the other laser diode element(s) or laser pump(s) comprise second laser diode element(s) or second laser pump(s), and wherein the recalibrated laser diode system is configured to generate a power output signal using only the second laser diode element(s) and the second laser pump(s).

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

authenticating, using the computing device, the encoded key; and

disabling, using the computing device, the first laser diode element or the first laser pump in the laser diode system based at least in part on the authenticating.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, using the computing device, a request to disable the first laser diode element or the first laser pump in the laser diode system; and

disabling the first laser diode element or the first laser pump in the laser diode system based at least in part on the request.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, an identification of the first laser diode element or the first laser pump in the request.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the power output signal comprises a reduced power output signal.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

denying access to the laser diode system based at least in part on failing to authenticate the encoded key.

7. A laser diode system, comprising:

a plurality of laser pumps, each of the plurality of laser pumps including a plurality of laser diode drivers and a corresponding plurality of laser diode elements, wherein each of the plurality of laser diode drivers is electrically coupled to power at least two of the plurality of laser diode elements;

a combiner electrically coupled to the plurality of laser diode elements to combine an output of each of the plurality of laser pumps to generate a combined output light; and

a controller to;

identify a failed laser pump or a failed laser diode element;

receive an encoded key to gain access to the controller;

disable the failed laser pump or the failed laser diode element based at least in part on authenticating the encoded key; and

recalibrate the laser diode system to account for the failed laser pump or the failed laser diode element, wherein the recalibrated laser diode system is configured to generate a power output signal using only a subset of the laser pumps or only a subset of the laser diode elements.

8. The laser diode system of claim 7, wherein the power output signal comprises a reduced power output signal.

9. The laser diode system of claim 7, wherein recalibrate the laser diode system includes recalibrate the combiner based at least in part on the failed laser pump or the failed laser diode element.

10. The laser diode system of claim 7, wherein recalibrate the laser diode system includes reducing power output in proportion to a number of the failed laser diode drivers or a number of the failed laser diode elements.

11. The laser diode system of claim 7,

wherein each of the plurality of laser diode drivers includes a corresponding power supply;

and

wherein the controller is further to identify a failed power supply.

12. The laser diode system of claim 7, wherein the controller is further to deny access to the laser diode system based at least in part on an inability to authenticate the encoded key.

13. The laser diode system of claim 7, wherein the controller is further to track the failed laser diode driver or the failed laser diode element.

14. A laser diode system, comprising:

a plurality of laser pumps, each of the plurality of laser pumps including a plurality of laser diode drivers and a corresponding plurality of laser diode elements, wherein each of the plurality of laser diode drivers is electrically coupled to power at least two of the plurality of laser diode elements; and

a controller to;

identify a failed laser pump or a failed laser diode element; and

automatically disable the failed laser pump or the failed laser diode element based at least in part on identifying the failed laser pump or the failed laser diode element; and

recalibrate the laser diode system to account for the failed laser pump or the failed laser diode element, wherein the recalibrated laser diode system is configured to generate a power output signal using only a subset of the laser pumps or a subset of the laser diode elements.

15. The laser diode system of claim 14, further comprising:

a combiner electrically coupled to the plurality of laser diode elements to combine an output of each of the plurality of laser pumps to generate a combined output light.

16. The laser diode system of claim 14, further comprising:

a plurality of gain elements electrically coupled to the plurality of pumps to increase a power level of a plurality of laser element output signals output from the plurality of laser diode drivers.

17. The laser diode system of claim 14, wherein the controller is further to automatically disable the failed laser pump or the failed laser diode element based at least in part on decoding an encoded security key.

18. The laser diode system of claim 17, wherein the controller is further to deny access to the laser diode system based at least in part on the encoded security key.

19. The laser diode system of claim 14, wherein the power output signal comprises a reduced power output signal.

20. The laser diode system of claim 19, wherein recalibrate the laser diode system to account for the failed laser pump or the failed laser diode element further comprises recalibrating one or more photo-sensors of the laser diode system based on reduced light associated with the reduced power output signal.