Multicolor diode-laser module

1. Optical apparatus, comprising:

a housing including first and second compartments arranged one above the other;

the first compartment including a plurality N of lasers, wherein N is 4 or greater, and each laser is arranged to emit one of a corresponding plurality of laser beams each thereof having one of N different wavelengths;

the first compartment further including N first beam-steering minors arranged to direct a corresponding one of the laser beams into the second compartment; and

the second compartment including a beam-combining arrangement and N second beam-steering mirrors, each thereof arranged to receive the beam from a corresponding one of the N first beam-steering mirrors and direct that beam to the beam-combining arrangement, the beam combining arrangement being configured to receive the separate beams and combine the beams on a common path and wherein the beam-combining arrangement is a polygonal prism having at least N+1 surfaces, wherein each of the N beams enters the prism via a corresponding one of N of the N+1 surfaces and the beams exit the prism via the other one of the N+1 surfaces.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein N is four and the polygonal prism is a regular pentagonal prism.

3. Optical apparatus, comprising:

a housing including first and second compartments arranged one above the other;

the first compartment including a plurality N of lasers, wherein N is 4 or greater, and each laser is arranged to emit one of a corresponding plurality of laser beams each thereof having one of N different wavelengths;

the first compartment further including N first beam-steering mirrors arranged to direct a corresponding one of the laser beams into the second compartment; and

the second compartment including a beam-combining arrangement and N second beam-steering mirrors, each thereof arranged to receive the beam from a corresponding one of the N first beam-steering minors and direct that beam to the beam-combining arrangement, the beam combining arrangement being configured to receive the separate beams and combine the beams on a common path wherein the beam-combining arrangement includes N−1 dichroic minors arranged at an angle to each other and each thereof is transparent for one of the N beams and reflective for at least one of the other beams, and wherein each of N−1 of the N beams is transmitted through a corresponding one of the N−1 dichroic mirrors and the N beams are reflected along the common path by one of the three dichroic mirrors.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein N is 4 and there are three dichroic minors and the dichroic mirrors are aligned with sides of an imaginary regular pentagon.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the housing includes a third compartment and the third compartment includes power supplies for the lasers in the first compartment, and wherein the third compartment is located below the first compartment and above the second compartment.

6. Apparatus for combining N different laser beams having N different wavelengths, the apparatus comprising:

a solid polygonal prism having at least N+1 surfaces, and

wherein each of the N beams enters the prism via a corresponding one of the N+1 surfaces, and wherein after entering the prism, N−1 of the beams are internally reflected off one or more of the surfaces in a manner to combine the beams along a common path and wherein all of the beams exit the prism via one of the remaining surfaces as a combined beam and wherein at least two of the surfaces include a dichroic interface, each of said dichroic interfaces acting as a transmissive surface for one of the laser wavelengths and a reflecting surface for another one of the laser wavelengths.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein N is 4 or greater.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the polygonal prism is a regular polygonal prism.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein N is four and the prism is a regular pentagonal prism.

10. A laser system comprising:

four lasers, each laser generating a laser beam having a different wavelength; and

a beam combiner positioned to receive each of the beams and combine the beams along a common path, said beam combiner being in the form of a pentagonal prism have five faces, wherein four of the faces of the prism function as input faces for one of the four laser beams and the fifth face functions as an output face.

11. A system as recited in claim 10 , wherein three of the input faces are provided with an optical coating which is reflective for at least one of the other wavelengths which is not entering the prism at that face.

12. A system as recited in claim 10 , wherein three of the input faces are provided with substrates, said substrates including an optical coating which is reflective for at least one of the other wavelengths which is not entering the prism at that face.

13. Optical apparatus, comprising:

a housing including first, second, and third compartments;

the first compartment including a plurality N of lasers, each thereof arranged to emit one of a corresponding plurality of laser beams each thereof having one of N different wavelengths;

the first compartment further including N first beam-steering mirrors arranged to direct a corresponding one of the laser beams into the second compartment;

the second compartment including a beam-combining arrangement and N second beam-steering mirrors, each thereof arranged to receive the beam from a corresponding one of the N first beam-steering mirrors and direct that beam to the beam-combining arrangement, the beam combining arrangement being configured to receive the separate beams and combine the beams on a common path; and

the third compartment including power supplies for the lasers in the first compartment, and wherein the third compartment is located below the first compartment and above the second compartment.

14. Apparatus for combining N different laser beams having N different wavelengths, the apparatus comprising:

a polygonal prism having at least N+1 surfaces, wherein N is 4 or greater, and

wherein each of the N beams enters the prism via a corresponding one of the N+1 surfaces and all of the beams exit the prism via one of the remaining surfaces as a combined beam and wherein at least two of the surfaces include a dichroic interface, each of said dichroic interfaces acting as a transmissive surface for one of the laser wavelengths and a reflecting surface for another one of the laser wavelengths.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the polygonal prism is a regular polygonal prism.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein N is four and the prism is a regular pentagonal prism.

17. Apparatus for combining N different laser beams having N different wavelengths, the apparatus comprising:

a solid polygonal prism having at least N+1 surfaces, wherein N is greater than 4, and

wherein each of the N beams enters the prism via a corresponding one of the N+1 surfaces, and wherein after entering the prism, N−1 of the beams are internally reflected off one or more of the surfaces in a manner to combine the beams along a common path and wherein all of the beams exit the prism via one of the remaining surfaces as a combined beam.

18. Apparatus for combining N different laser beams having N different wavelengths, the apparatus comprising:

a regular pentagonal prism having at least N+1 surfaces, wherein N is 4 or greater, and wherein each of the N beams enters the prism via a corresponding one of the N+1 surfaces and all of the beams exit the prism via one of the remaining surfaces as a combined beam.