A Practical Guide to Handling Laser Diode Beams

Abstract

The basic properties of single transverse mode and multi-transverse mode laser diode beams are reviewed. The characteristics of a laser diode beam propagating through optical elements is analyzed using three commonly used math tools: analytical tool thin lens equation and ABCD matrix, numerical calculation, and software tool Zemax. The emphasis is on using thin lens equation and numerical calculation to study the collimation and focusing characteristics of single transverse mode laser diode beams.