title: Correction of beam errors in high power laser diode bars and stacks.
abstract: The beam errors of an 11 bar laser diode stack fitted with fast-axis collimator lenses have been corrected by a single refractive plate, produced by laser cutting and polishing. The so-called smile effect is virtually eliminated and collimator aberration greatly reduced, improving the fast-axis beam quality of each bar by a factor of up to 5. The single corrector plate for the whole stack ensures that the radiation from all the laser emitters is parallel to a common axis. Beam-pointing errors of the bars have been reduced to below 0.7 mrad.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Monjardin
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Nowak
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Hall