| 摘要 |
A method and apparatus are disclosed for predicting the failure of semiconductor lasers. To predict the failure of a particular semiconductor laser (172), operational characteristics that are predictive of a laser's health are computed while the laser (172) is in use. This is done by modulating the injection current of the laser and observing changes in laser parameters such as output power and junction voltage. Modulating the injection current with a modulation period that is substantially less than the relaxation time of the dopant ions in a solid state laser does not substantially affect the gain of the laser (172). The current modulation and laser parameter sampling are controlled by a microprocessor (212) via a control interface (202). During any particular modulation cycle, the microprocessor (212) stores multiple parameters in a random access memory (RAM) (216). The microprocessor (212) computes the laser characteristics and compares them to the beginning-of-life data (291) stored in a read only memory (ROM). If the laser characteristics are out of range with respect to the beginning-of-life data (291) the microprocessor (212) outputs an alarm via a communication port (218).
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