JP5534974B2 - Light emitting device, lighting device, and vehicle headlamp - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a light emitting device in which a laser light source and a light emitting part containing a phosphor are combined, an illumination device including the light emitting device, a vehicle headlamp, and a method for manufacturing the light emitting device.

  In recent years, research on light-emitting devices using semiconductor light-emitting elements (solid-state light sources) such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and semiconductor lasers (LDs) as excitation light sources has become active.

  As an example of such a conventional light emitting device, there is a light source device disclosed in Patent Document 1.

  The light source device disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes an LD, a collimator that uses a laser beam from the LD as a parallel beam bundle, a condenser that collects the laser beam of the parallel beam bundle from the collimator, and a condenser. And a phosphor that absorbs laser light and emits incoherent light as spontaneous emission light.

  Moreover, the structure which has a laser beam reflective mirror is employ | adopted so that a coherent laser beam may not leak.

  On the other hand, as another example of a conventional light emitting device, there is an illumination device disclosed in Patent Document 2.

  The lighting device disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a light-emitting element, a fiber-shaped light guide that guides light introduced from the light-emitting element and emits at least part of the light-emitting element, and emits light from the fiber-shaped light guide. And a translucent protective container containing a light emitting element and a fiber light guide.

  Another example of the conventional light emitting device is a lamp disclosed in Patent Document 3.

  The lamp disclosed in Patent Document 3 includes a semiconductor light emitting element that generates light, a phosphor that is provided apart from the semiconductor light emitting element, and a light that condenses light generated by the semiconductor light emitting element on the phosphor. One optical member (condensing lens) and an optical center at the position where the phosphor is provided, and the light generated by the phosphor in response to the light collected by the first optical member is transmitted to the outside of the lamp And a second optical member (reflecting mirror) for irradiating the light.

JP 2003-295319 A (published on October 15, 2003) JP 2004-342411 A (published on December 22, 2004) JP 2005-150041 A (released on June 9, 2005)

  However, among the conventional light-emitting devices, in particular, in the techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, it is not assumed that the position of the light-emitting portion is shifted or detached due to vibration or the like. When such a situation occurs, there is a problem that the laser beam is emitted as it is to the outside of the light emitting device.

  For example, in the light source device disclosed in Patent Document 1, although the viewpoint of downsizing the device itself is considered, how are each component such as an LD, a collimator, a capacitor, and a phosphor fixed? Is not disclosed at all.

  On the other hand, since the lighting device disclosed in Patent Document 2 uses a fiber-shaped light guide, there is a possibility that the position of the fiber-shaped light guide is shifted or detached due to vibration or the like.

  Moreover, the translucent protective container containing the fiber-shaped light guide is a light emitting unit that generates incoherent light, and there is a limit to downsizing the light emitting unit.

  Furthermore, the lamp disclosed in Patent Document 3 is premised on being used for a vehicle headlamp, and is capable of vibrating while reducing the size of a light-emitting device unit composed of a combination of a laser light source, a condensing element, and a light-emitting unit. The viewpoint of increasing the resistance to is not considered at all.

  In addition, in this lamp, since the laser light is guided using a condensing lens provided for each laser light source, there is a problem that the lamp becomes larger as the number of laser light sources increases.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a light-emitting device and the like that have high resistance to vibration while allowing downsizing.

  In order to solve the above problems, a light-emitting device of the present invention includes a laser light source that generates laser light, a translucent member made of a material that transmits the laser light, and the laser light source. And a light emitting unit that generates light when irradiated with laser light that passes through the light member, and the laser light source, the light transmissive member, and the light emitting unit are integrally fixed. It is characterized by.

  According to the said structure, the translucent member is comprised with the material which permeate | transmits the said laser beam.

  The light emitting unit is configured to generate light by being irradiated with laser light generated from the laser light source and transmitted through the translucent member. Therefore, the light emitting unit includes at least a phosphor that generates light when irradiated with laser light.

  Furthermore, according to the said structure, the laser light source which generate | occur | produces a laser beam is employ | adopted as an excitation light source. Here, the laser light generated from the laser light source is coherent light and has high directivity. Therefore, the size of the irradiation range of the laser light generated from the laser light source depends on the positional relationship between the laser light source and the light emitting unit. Is smaller than an LED or the like.

  Therefore, since the laser light can be irradiated and used without waste to the light emitting portion having a size approximately equal to the laser light irradiation range, the light emitting portion can be reduced in size.

  Next, according to the said structure, the said laser light source, the said translucent member, and the said light emission part are being fixed integrally.

  Therefore, since the relative positional relationship among the laser light source, the light-transmitting member, and the light-emitting portion is not shifted or is not easily shifted, resistance to vibration of the light-emitting device can be increased.

  As described above, it is possible to provide a light-emitting device that can be downsized and has high resistance to vibration.

  The “laser light source” is preferably composed of a solid-state light source such as an LD chip from the viewpoint of miniaturization of the light-emitting device. It is good also as a light source. Furthermore, it may be a solid-state light source in which a plurality of chips are mounted in one package.

  Next, as described above, the “light emitting unit” includes at least a phosphor, but may be composed of only one kind of phosphor or may be composed of a plurality of kinds of phosphors. . Further, the light emitting unit may be configured by dispersing a single type or a plurality of types of phosphors in an appropriate dispersion medium.

  In addition, the “phosphor” is an incoherent light that is excited by irradiating excitation light to excite low-energy electrons to a high-energy state and transitioning from a high-energy state to a low-energy state. It is a substance that generates

  Next, in “irradiation”, when the light emitting part is irradiated with the laser light irradiation range being substantially constant, when the light emitting part is irradiated while expanding the laser light irradiation range, the laser light irradiation range is reduced. However, any case of irradiating the light emitting part is included.

  In addition, as a “method of integrally fixing the laser light source, the translucent member, and the light emitting part”, a fitting hole or the like is provided in the translucent member to fit all or part of the light emitting part or the laser light source. In addition to a method of fitting in a hole, a method of bonding a light emitting part or a laser light source to the surface of a translucent member, the following method may be adopted.

  That is, in the light emitting device of the present invention, in addition to the above configuration, the laser light source may be sealed inside the translucent member.

  According to the above configuration, since the laser light source is sealed and fixed inside the translucent member, the relative positional relationship between the translucent member and the laser light source can be easily fixed.

  Further, since the laser light source is present inside the translucent member, the size of the light emitting device can be reduced by the size of the laser light source.

  In the light emitting device of the present invention, in addition to the above configuration, the light emitting unit may be sealed inside the light transmissive member.

  According to the said structure, since the light emission part is sealed and fixed inside the translucent member, the relative positional relationship of a translucent member and a light emission part can be fixed easily.

  In addition, since the light emitting portion exists inside the translucent member, the size of the light emitting device can be reduced by the size of the light emitting portion.

  In the light emitting device of the present invention, in addition to the above configuration, the laser light source and the light emitting unit may be sealed inside the light transmissive member.

  According to the above configuration, since the laser light source and the light emitting unit are sealed and fixed inside the translucent member, the relative positional relationship between the laser light source, the translucent member, and the light emitting unit can be easily determined. Can be fixed.

  In addition, since the laser light source and the light emitting unit are present inside the translucent member, the size of the light emitting device can be reduced by the size of the laser light source and the light emitting unit.

  Moreover, in order to solve the said subject, the manufacturing method of the light-emitting device of this invention is a manufacturing method of the light-emitting device manufactured using the metal mold | die which has a translucent member formation hole for forming a translucent member. An installation step of installing a laser light source that generates laser light and a light emitting unit that generates light when irradiated with the laser light at a predetermined position inside the translucent member forming hole of the mold. And an injection step of injecting a thermosetting resin having light permeability into the light-transmitting member forming hole of the mold, and a heating step of heating the mold.

  According to the above method, since the laser light source and the light emitting part can be sealed and fixed inside the light transmissive member formed by curing the thermosetting resin having light transmittance, the laser light source, The relative positional relationship between the translucent member and the light emitting unit can be fixed.

  In addition, since the laser light source and the light emitting unit are present inside the translucent member, the size of the light emitting device can be reduced by the size of the laser light source and the light emitting unit.

  In the light emitting device of the present invention, in addition to the above configuration, the laser light source, the translucent member, and the light emitting unit may be sandwiched and fixed integrally with two cases.

  According to the above configuration, for example, even when each of the laser light source, the translucent member, and the light emitting unit is an independent component, the laser light source, The translucent member and the light emitting part can be fixed integrally.

  In addition to the above configuration, the light-emitting device of the present invention has a surrounding structure in which the translucent member is surrounded by a light-reflecting side surface that reflects the transmitted laser light. The surrounding structure guides light to the vicinity of the light emitting part, and the sectional area of the surrounding structure closer to the light emitting part may be smaller than the sectional area closer to the laser light source. .

  According to the said structure, the said laser beam can be guided to the vicinity of the said light emission part by the surrounding structure enclosed by the light reflection side surface.

  Further, since the cross-sectional area closer to the light emitting part of the surrounding structure is smaller than the cross-sectional area closer to the laser light source, the light emitting part smaller than the size of the laser light source is irradiated with laser light. be able to.

  As a result, even if the size of the light emitting portion is reduced, if the cross-sectional area closer to the light emitting portion of the surrounding structure is made smaller, the irradiation range of the laser light irradiated in the vicinity of the light emitting portion can be reduced, so that light emission The part can be further downsized.

  Here, “go” means surrounding the optical path of the laser light generated from the laser light source.

  Examples of the “go structure” include frustum side surfaces such as a frustum side surface, a frustum side surface, and an elliptic frustum side surface.

  Next, in the case of “guided to the light emitting part by the go structure”, when the light is reflected once on the light reflecting side surface and guided to the vicinity of the light emitting part, the light reflecting part is reflected several times on the light reflecting side surface. In the case of guiding light to the vicinity, any case of guiding light to the vicinity of the light emitting unit without being reflected once on the light reflecting side surface is included.

  Further, in the light emitting device of the present invention, in addition to the above configuration, when there are a plurality of the laser light sources, one end of the translucent member is configured so that each of the plurality of laser light sources has a center of the light emitting unit. It may have a cross-sectional shape that can be arranged at an equidistant position.

  Thus, for example, if each of the plurality of laser light sources is arranged at a position equidistant from the center of the light emitting unit and the direction of the plurality of laser light sources is directed toward the center of the light emitting unit, the laser emitted from the laser light source Light utilization efficiency (coupling efficiency = emitted light from the other end of the translucent member / incident light from one end of the translucent member) can be substantially maximized.

  At this time, the optical distances of the laser beams generated from the plurality of laser light sources can be made substantially common. Therefore, for example, the intensity of the laser beam can be further increased by aligning the phases of the laser beams generated from a plurality of laser light sources.

  Here, as an example of “cross-sectional shape”, in addition to a cross-sectional shape in which the cutting line when one end of the translucent member is cut at a predetermined horizontal plane becomes an arc equidistant from the center of the light emitting part, Exemplified is a cross-sectional shape or the like in which the cutting line when one end of the translucent member is cut along a predetermined horizontal plane is constituted by a plurality of line segments that are equidistant from the center of the light irradiation region of the light emitting unit. be able to.

  In the light emitting device of the present invention, in addition to the above configuration, the light reflecting side surface of the translucent member may be a curved surface convex inward in the vicinity of the light emitting portion.

  Here, for example, in the case of a truncated cone-shaped translucent member such as a truncated pyramid or a truncated cone, the light is emitted from the translucent member as a result of the laser beam being reflected a plurality of times on the light reflecting side surface. There is a problem in that the incident angle of the laser light to the light reflection side surface becomes small in the vicinity of the part, and the laser light escapes without being irradiated to the light emitting part.

  However, by making the light reflecting side surface convex inward in the vicinity of the light emitting part of the translucent member, the incident angle of the laser light incident on the light reflecting side surface in the same optical path can be increased. It can suppress that light escapes without being irradiated to a light emission part. Therefore, the light emission efficiency of the light emitting unit can be further improved.

  In the light emitting device of the present invention, in addition to the above configuration, a concave lens-like curved surface having a concave surface with respect to the light emitting portion may be formed at an end portion of the translucent member closer to the light emitting portion.

  According to the said structure, the translucent member and the light emission part are separated, and the irradiation range of the laser beam radiate | emitted from the edge part near the light emission part of a translucent member becomes smaller than the size of a light emission part. Even in such a case, the concave lens-like curved surface can greatly promote the irradiation range of the laser light while maintaining the distance between the end of the translucent member closer to the light emitting part and the light emitting part, so that it matches the size of the light emitting part. Can be irradiated with laser light.

  In the light emitting device of the present invention, in addition to the above configuration, a convex lens-like curved surface having a convex surface with respect to the light emitting part may be formed at the end of the translucent member closer to the light emitting part.

  According to the said structure, the translucent member and the light emission part are separated, and the irradiation range of the laser beam radiate | emitted from the edge part near the said light emission part of a translucent member becomes larger than the size of a light emission part. Even in such a case, the convex lens-shaped curved surface can suppress the irradiation range of the laser light while keeping the distance between the end portion closer to the light emitting portion and the light emitting portion, so that the excitation light can be adjusted according to the size of the light emitting portion. Can be irradiated.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the illuminating device of this invention is provided with either of the said light-emitting devices in addition to the said structure.

  According to the above, it is possible to provide an illuminating device including a light emitting device having high resistance to vibration while enabling downsizing.

  In addition to the above-described configuration, the vehicle headlamp of the present invention reflects the light generated from the light emitting device and the light emitting unit, thereby forming a light beam that travels within a predetermined solid angle. And may be provided.

  According to the said structure, the light emitted from the light emission part is reflected by a reflective mirror, and the light beam which advances within the predetermined solid angle is formed. Therefore, it is possible to provide a vehicular headlamp including a light emitting device that can be downsized and has high resistance to vibration.

  As described above, the light emitting device of the present invention includes a laser light source that generates laser light, a translucent member made of a material that transmits the laser light, and the translucent member that is generated from the laser light source. And a light emitting unit that generates light when irradiated with laser light that passes through the laser beam, and the laser light source, the translucent member, and the light emitting unit are integrally fixed.

  In the light emitting device manufacturing method of the present invention, as described above, the laser light source for generating laser light and the laser light are irradiated to a predetermined position inside the light transmitting member forming hole of the mold. An installation step of installing a light emitting part that generates light, an injection step of injecting a light-transmitting thermosetting resin into the light-transmitting member forming hole of the mold, and heating the mold And a heating step.

  Therefore, it is possible to provide a light-emitting device having high resistance to vibration while enabling downsizing.

It is sectional drawing which shows schematic structure of one Embodiment of the light-emitting device in this invention. (A) is a circuit diagram of an example of a laser light source (LD) regarding the light emitting device, and (b) is a schematic diagram showing an overview of the LD. (A) is a schematic diagram which shows a fitting process among the manufacturing processes of the said light-emitting device, (b) is a schematic diagram which shows a joining process among the said manufacturing processes. (A) is a schematic diagram which shows other embodiment of the said light-emitting device, (b) is a schematic diagram which shows other embodiment of the said light-emitting device. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the manufacturing process of a light emission part regarding the said light-emitting device, (a) part shows the fluorescent substance powder used as a raw material, (b) part shows the beaker containing the translucent material. , (C) shows the mold and the completed light emitting part. (A) is a schematic diagram which shows an installation process among the manufacturing processes of the said light-emitting device, (b) is a schematic diagram which shows an injection | pouring process and a heating process among the said manufacturing processes, (c) It is a schematic diagram which shows the completed light-emitting device. (A) is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the preferable form of a translucent member regarding the said light-emitting device, (b) is a schematic diagram which shows the other example of the preferable form of the said translucent member. (A) is a figure which shows the light emission tendency of said LD, (b) is a perspective view which shows an example of the light emission part in the said light-emitting device, (c) is the light emission part of the said translucent member. It is a figure which shows an example of the emitted light when a convex-lens-like curved surface does not exist in the edge part nearer, and (d) is a figure which shows an example of the emitted light when a convex-lens-like curved surface exists in the said edge part. And (e) is a diagram showing an example of emitted light when there is no concave lens-like curve at the end, and (f) is an example of emitted light when there is a concave lens-like curved surface at the end. FIG. (A) is a top view which shows another example of a translucent member regarding the said light-emitting device, (b) is a side view of the said translucent member, (c) is the said translucent member It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the light emission tendency in a permeable member, (d) is a schematic diagram which shows the other example of the light emission tendency in the said translucent member, (e) is the said translucent member. It is a schematic diagram which shows the further another example of the light emission tendency in. (A) is a schematic diagram which shows the external appearance of one Embodiment of the illuminating device in this invention, (b) is sectional drawing of the said illuminating device, (c) is other than the illuminating device in this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the external appearance of this embodiment, (d) is a schematic diagram which shows the external appearance of further another embodiment of the illuminating device in this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows schematic structure of further another embodiment of the illuminating device in this invention. It is a figure which shows a mode that the lens diameter required for the headlamp for motor vehicles was compared with the kind of lamp. (A) is the figure which compared the performance with the kind of lamp, (b) is a figure which shows an example of the external appearance structure of the conventional automotive headlamp, (c) uses the said light-emitting device. It is a figure which shows an example of an external appearance structure of the headlamp for motor vehicles when there exists. (A) is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the laser downlight which is further another embodiment of the illuminating device in this invention, (b) is sectional drawing which shows the whole structure of the said laser downlight.

  One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Configurations other than those described in the following specific items may be omitted as necessary, but are the same as the configurations described in other items. For convenience of explanation, members having the same functions as those shown in each item are given the same reference numerals, and the explanation thereof is omitted as appropriate.

  In addition, each form, such as the light-emitting device (illuminating device, vehicle headlamp) 110-140 and the illuminating device (light-emitting device, vehicle headlamp) 150-180 demonstrated below, is an illuminating device or vehicle headlamp. Although described as a light emitting device unit or a lighting device for a lamp, the embodiments embodying the present invention are not limited to these embodiments, and may be a light emitting device unit such as a lighting device or a lighting fixture other than a lighting device or a vehicle headlamp. Can be applied.

[1. Regarding Configuration of Light Emitting Device and Manufacturing Method Thereof]
First, based on FIG. 1, FIG. 3 (a) and (b), and (a) part-(c) part of FIG. 5, about each structure of the light-emitting device 110 which is one Embodiment of this invention, and its manufacturing method. explain.

  First, FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view when the light emitting device 110 is cut along a plane including a laser beam.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the light emitting device 110 generates incoherent light (light) L1, and includes an LD chip (laser light source) 101, a truncated cone-shaped light condensing part (translucent member) 20, and a cylindrical shape. A light emitter (light emitting unit) 40 and a housing 50 are provided.

  The LD chip 101 is a 10-stripe semiconductor laser element (solid-state laser element) having 10 light emitting points (laser light sources) 102, and has an optical output of 11.2 W, an operating voltage of 5 V, and a current of 6.4 A. It is mounted on a stem with a diameter of 9 mm.

  In addition, in the LD chip 101 having the ten light emitting points 102, the size and interval of the light emitting points 102 are considerably small, so that it is difficult to guide the light with a bundle fiber or the like. Such a problem can be solved by using the light condensing unit 20 or the like.

  The oscillation wavelength of the laser light L0 generated from each of the light emitting points 102 is 405 nm.

  Note that the oscillation wavelength of the laser light L0 generated from the light emitting point 102 is not limited to 405 nm, and may be any wavelength as long as it has an oscillation wavelength in a blue-violet region or a blue region (380 nm or more and 490 nm or less).

  Moreover, although it is difficult to produce a high-quality short wavelength laser with a wavelength of 380 nm or less with the current technology, an LD chip 101 designed to oscillate with a wavelength of 380 nm or less may be used as a light source in the future.

  When this LD chip 101 is used to output at 11.2 W, the power consumption is 32 W.

  As a result, the total luminous flux of the 10 light emitting points 102 of the LD chip 101 is a luminous flux of the entire light source by simple calculation. Compared to the case where only a 1-chip 1-strip LD chip (laser light source) 11 described later is used. Thus, the luminous flux of the entire light source can be increased by about 10 times. However, the laser performance at each light emitting point 102 is assumed to be equal.

  In this embodiment, the number of LD chips 101 is one, but the number of LD chips 101 is not limited to this, and two or more LD chips 101 may be used.

  Further, the laser light source may be a one-chip multiple-striped solid element light source in which a plurality of laser light sources (light emitting points 102) are integrated as in the LD chip 101 of this embodiment, or an LD chip 11 described below. As described above, a solid-state light source having one chip and one stripe may be used.

  Next, the frustoconical condensing unit 20 transmits each laser beam L0 incident on the light incident surface (the one closer to the laser light source) 201 to the light irradiation surface (the one closer to the light emitting unit, the end closer to the light emitting unit). Part) 202 <or in the vicinity of the cylindrical light emitting body 40> and the guided laser light L0 is irradiated on the cylindrical light emitting body 40 in the vicinity of the light irradiation surface 202 or on the light irradiation surface 202. ing.

Incidentally, the material of the frustoconical light converging section 20 may be any material that transmits a laser beam, in the present embodiment, a quartz (SiO _2), a refractive index of 1.45. In addition, BK (borosilicate crown) 7 and acrylic resin can also be suitably used.

  The frustoconical condensing unit 20 has a surrounding structure surrounded by a truncated cone side surface (enclosed structure, light reflecting side surface) 203 that reflects the transmitted laser beam L0, and the laser beam L0 is reflected from the truncated cone side surface. The light guide surface 203 guides light to the vicinity of the cylindrical light emitting body 40, and the cross-sectional area of the light irradiation surface 202 is smaller than the cross-sectional area of the light incident surface 201.

  More specifically, the light incident surface 201 has a circular shape with a diameter of about 10 mm, and the light irradiation surface 202 has a circular shape with a diameter of about 2 mm.

  The frustoconical side surface 203 of the frustoconical condensing part 20 is coated with a fluorine-based resin (polytetrafluoroethylene) having a refractive index of 1.35. The material for coating the side surface 203 may be any material having a refractive index lower than the refractive index of the frustoconical condensing part 20, or may be directly coated with air (with a refractive index of 1) without coating. good.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the cross section of the light incident surface 201 and the light irradiation surface 202 is circular, that is, planar, but may not be planar. For example, as described below, the light incident surface 201 and the light irradiation surface 202 have a convex lens shape or a concave lens shape in order to change the angle of the laser light L0 to the light incident surface 201 and the irradiation light from the light irradiation surface 202. It may be any of convex lens shapes, concave lens shapes, or a composite lens shape in which convex lens shapes and concave lens shapes are combined. Further, a collimator lens may be provided between the light incident surface 201 and the LD chip 101. The shape of the collimator lens is not limited to a spherical surface, and may be an aspherical surface, for example, a cylindrical shape.

  Further, a GRIN lens (Gradient Index lens) may be provided between the truncated cone-shaped condensing unit 20 and the cylindrical light emitting body 40 (for example, a GRIN lens is provided on the light irradiation surface 202). Join).

  The GRIN lens is a lens in which a lens action is generated by a refractive index gradient inside the lens even if the lens is not convex or concave.

  Therefore, when the GRIN lens is used, for example, the lens effect can be generated while the light irradiation surface 202 is kept flat without being concave or convex.

  In addition, since the lens action can be generated while the plane is kept flat, if the GRIN lens is bonded to the light irradiation surface 202 of the frustoconical condensing unit 20, the cylindrical light emitting body 40 is spaced from the end surface of the GRIN lens. It can be joined without any problems.

  Thereby, since the laser beam L0 which is not irradiated to the cylindrical light emitter 40 can be reduced, the light emission efficiency of the cylindrical light emitter 40 can be further improved.

  Next, a heat radiating member may be provided between the light irradiation surface 202 and the cylindrical light emitting body 40.

  Thereby, it can prevent that the cylindrical light-emitting body 40 deteriorates with the heat | fever which generate | occur | produced from the cylindrical light-emitting body 40. FIG.

  The optical coupling efficiency with respect to the LD chip 101 of the frustoconical condensing part 20 described above is 90%.

  Thus, the laser beam L0 can be guided to the vicinity of the cylindrical light emitting body 40 by the truncated cone side surface 203.

  In addition, since the cross-sectional area of the light irradiation surface 202 is smaller than the cross-sectional area of the light incident surface 201, the cylindrical light emitter 40 that is smaller than the size of the LD chip 101 can be irradiated with laser light.

  Then, even if the size of the cylindrical light emitter 40 is reduced, if the cross-sectional area of the light irradiation surface 202 is made smaller, the irradiation range of the laser light L0 irradiated in the vicinity of the cylindrical light emitter 40 can be reduced. The cylindrical light emitting body 40 can be further downsized.

  Here, “go” means surrounding the optical path of the laser light L 0 generated from the LD chip 101.

  Examples of the “go structure” include frustum side surfaces such as a frustum side surface, a frustum side surface, and an elliptic frustum side surface.

  Next, when the light is guided to the cylindrical light emitter 40 by the go structure, the light is reflected only once on the truncated cone side surface 203 and guided to the vicinity of the cylindrical light emitter 40. When the light is guided to the vicinity of the cylindrical light-emitting body 40 after being reflected a plurality of times, any case where the light is guided to the vicinity of the cylindrical light-emitting body 40 without being reflected once on the truncated cone side surface 203 is included.

  In addition, in the “irradiation”, when irradiating the cylindrical light emitter 40 with the laser light L0 while keeping the size of the irradiation range substantially constant, when irradiating the cylindrical light emitter 40 with the laser light L0 while expanding the irradiation range, Any case of irradiating the cylindrical light emitter 40 with the laser light L0 while reducing the irradiation range is included.

  In the present embodiment, the cylindrical light emitter 40 exists in the immediate vicinity of the light irradiation surface 202 of the frustoconical condensing unit 20, and the size of the light irradiation surface 202 and the size of the cylindrical light emitter 40 are approximately the same. .

  Therefore, the cylindrical light emitter 40 is irradiated with the laser light L0 while maintaining the size of the irradiation range of the laser light L0 at the position of the light irradiation surface 202 substantially constant.

  On the other hand, even if the size of the cylindrical light emitter 40 is reduced, if the cross-sectional area of the light irradiation surface 202 of the truncated cone-shaped condensing unit 20 is made smaller, the laser light L0 irradiated on the light irradiation surface 202 or in the vicinity thereof. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the irradiation range of the laser light L0 from increasing with respect to the size of the cylindrical light emitting body 40.

  That is, it is possible to provide the light emitting device 110 that can suppress the irradiation range of the laser light L0 from becoming larger than the size of the cylindrical light emitting body 40.

  Further, by adjusting the distance from the light incident surface 201 to the light irradiation surface 202 of the frustoconical condensing part 20, the LD chip 101 and the cylindrical light emitting body 40 can be spatially separated at an arbitrary interval. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the cylindrical light-emitting body 40 from being deteriorated by the influence of heat generated in the LD chip 101.

  Next, since the laser light L0 oscillated from each light emitting point 102 of the LD chip 101 is coherent light, the directivity is strong, and the light emitting device 110 emits the laser light L0 by the frustoconical condensing unit 20. It can be collected and used without waste.

  Therefore, a very small cylindrical light emitter 40 can be formed regardless of the number of LD chips 101 and the number of light emitting points 102, and as a result, a light emitting device 110 having a small size and an extremely high brightness can be realized.

  Therefore, for example, by applying the light-emitting device 110 using such an LD chip 101 as a laser light source to various lighting fixtures, various merits such as miniaturization of various lighting fixtures can be produced.

  Next, the cylindrical light emitter 40 generates incoherent light L1 when irradiated with the laser light L0. That is, the cylindrical light emitter 40 includes a phosphor that generates incoherent light L1 when irradiated with at least the laser light L0.

  In the present embodiment, the cylindrical light emitter 40 has a diameter of 2 mm and a thickness of 1 mm, and has a disk shape (cylindrical shape).

  In addition, as the shape of the light emitting part, for example, when used for a vehicle headlamp, the light emitting part has a rectangular parallelepiped shape that is long in the horizontal direction like a rectangular parallelepiped light emitting element (light emitting part) 41 to be described later, and the horizontal x vertical x high The size may be about 3 mm × 1 mm × 1 mm.

  Here, as described above, the cylindrical light emitter 40 includes at least a phosphor. However, the cylindrical light emitter 40 may be composed of only one kind of phosphor, or may be composed of a plurality of kinds of phosphors. good.

  In addition, the cylindrical light emitting body 40 may be configured by dispersing a single type or a plurality of types of phosphors in an appropriate dispersion medium. The dispersion medium is preferably solid, but the dispersion medium may be liquid when the phosphor is sealed in a light-transmitting cylindrical container.

  As the dispersion medium, a translucent resin material is preferable, and a silicone resin can be exemplified. The ratio between the silicone resin and the phosphor is about 10: 1 by weight. The dispersion medium is not limited to a silicone resin, and may be a glass material including an inorganic glass material, or an organic / inorganic hybrid material.

  Here, an example of the manufacturing method of the cylindrical light-emitting body 40 is demonstrated based on the (a) part-(c) part of FIG.

  In FIG. 5 (a), a phosphor powder as a raw material is shown. This phosphor powder is a thermosetting resin (translucent resin) having light transmittance in the beaker shown in FIG. 5 (b). And mixed and stirred.

  Next, the mixture of the phosphor powder and the thermosetting resin is injected into each of the three injection holes h of the mold S shown in part (c) of FIG.

  Then, if the metal mold | die S is heated and a thermosetting resin is hardened and taken out, the three cylindrical light-emitting bodies 40 can be obtained.

  As described above, in the light emitting device 110, the laser light L0 is guided (or condensed) in the vicinity of the cylindrical light emitter 40 by the frustoconical light collector 20, and thus the light from the cylindrical light emitter 40 is emitted. The laser beam L0 can be irradiated in accordance with the size of the irradiation region.

  Further, since most of the condensed laser light L0 can be irradiated to the cylindrical light emitter 40, the phosphor in the cylindrical light emitter 40 is in a low energy state according to the irradiated laser light L0. Electrons are excited to a high energy state.

  Accordingly, since the incoherent light L1 is generated from the cylindrical light emitter 40 in accordance with the irradiated laser light L0, the light emitting device 110 has a higher luminous flux and higher brightness than the case where the single LD chip 11 is used. Can be realized.

  Here, according to the experimental results to be described later, the luminous flux of the incoherent light L1 emitted from the cylindrical light emitting body 40 per 1 W laser light source is about 150 lm (lumen) by simple calculation.

  Therefore, the luminous flux of the incoherent light L1 from the ten light emitting points 102 (11.2 W) is about 1680 lm.

  Here, as described above, the optical coupling efficiency of the frustoconical condensing part 20 with respect to the LD chip 101 is about 90%, so that the total luminous flux of the incoherent light L1 from the cylindrical light emitter 40 is 1680 × 0.9 = It can be estimated at about 1512 lm.

  This is a value about three times as high as that of a high-power white LED, which will be described later, about 400 to 500 lm, and is about the same value as a halogen lamp that realizes a luminous flux of 700 to 1500 lm.

Next, in reality, it is difficult to calculate an accurate value because light emission is not isotropic. However, it is assumed that light is emitted isotropically from a light emitting point, and light intensity (light flux per unit solid angle). Is 1512 (lm) /4π≈1512/4/3.14 (cd) ≈120.3 (cd), the effective aperture area is about 3.14 mm ² , and the transmittance of the optical system is 0.7. It can be seen that the luminance is approximately 120.3 (cd) /0.7/3.14 (mm ² ) = 54.7 (cd / mm ² ) ≈55 (Mcd / m ² ).

It can be seen that this is about twice as large as 25 (Mcd / m ² ) of a high output white LED described later.

  According to the above, high luminous flux and high brightness can be realized, and even if the size of the cylindrical light emitter 40 is reduced, the spread of the irradiation range of the laser light L0 is increased with respect to the size of the cylindrical light emitter 40. It is possible to provide the light emitting device 110 that can suppress this.

  Next, the “phosphor” means that, by irradiating the laser beam L0, an electron in a low energy state is excited to a high energy state, and the electron transitions from a high energy state to a low energy state, thereby incoherent. It is a substance that generates light L1.

  The phosphor is preferably a sialon phosphor (oxynitride phosphor) or a III-V compound semiconductor nanoparticle phosphor, but yttrium (Y) -aluminum (Al)-activated with cerium (Ce). A garnet (YAG: Ce) phosphor or the like may be used.

Here, sialon has α type and β type depending on the crystal structure like silicon nitride. In particular, alpha-sialon has the general formula _{Si 12- (m + n) Al} (m + n) O n N 16-n (m + n <12,0 <m, n <11; m, n is an integer) from 28 atom represented by There are two voids in the unit structure, and various metals can enter and dissolve therein, and a phosphor can be obtained by dissolving the rare earth element in solid solution. When calcium (Ca) and europium (Eu) are dissolved, a phosphor having excellent characteristics of emitting light in a yellow to orange range with a longer wavelength than YAG: Ce can be obtained.

  Further, the sialon phosphor can be excited by light in a blue-violet region or a blue region (380 nm or more and 490 nm or less), and is suitable for a phosphor for a white LED.

Next, a procedure for synthesizing a sialon phosphor will be described. The composition of the general formula _{Ca p Si 12- (m + n} ) Al (m + n) O n N 16-n: Eu q (p, q are each Ca, solid solution amount of Eu, m + n <12,0 < m, n <11; m and n are integers). The optimum values of the solid solution amount p of Ca and the solid solution amount q of Eu are obtained in advance by experiments, and m and n are determined based on conditions for maintaining the neutrality of the charge.

Further, powders of silicon nitride (Si ₃ N ₄ ), aluminum nitride (AlN), calcium carbonate (CaCO ₃ ), and europium oxide (Eu ₂ O ₃ ) are used as starting materials, and after weighing and mixing, sintering temperature 1700 Perform nitrogen gas pressure sintering at ℃. Then, if this is broken into powder, a sialon phosphor can be obtained.

  The sialon phosphor is a phosphor having a strong deterioration resistance against the laser beam L0. Therefore, theoretically, if the cylindrical light-emitting body 40 is composed only of sialon phosphors, deterioration can be prevented more effectively.

  The deterioration of the cylindrical light emitter 40 is considered to be caused by the deterioration of the phosphor dispersion medium (for example, silicone resin) contained in the cylindrical light emitter 40. That is, the sialon phosphor described above generates light with an efficiency of 60 to 80% when irradiated with the laser light L0, but the rest is emitted as heat. It is considered that the dispersion medium deteriorates due to this heat.

  Therefore, from the viewpoint of preventing deterioration of the cylindrical light emitter 40, the temperature of the cylindrical light emitter 40 is preferably suppressed to 130 degrees (Celsius temperature) or less.

  Moreover, as a dispersion medium, a dispersion medium with high heat resistance is preferable. Examples of the dispersion medium having high heat resistance include glass.

  Moreover, as another suitable example of fluorescent substance, the semiconductor nanoparticle fluorescent substance using the nanometer-sized particle | grains of a III-V group compound semiconductor can be illustrated.

  One of the features of semiconductor nanoparticle phosphors is that even if the same compound semiconductor (for example, indium phosphorus: InP) is used, the emission color is changed by the quantum size effect by changing the particle diameter to nanometer size. It is a point that can be. For example, InP emits red light when the particle size is about 3 to 4 nm (here, the particle size was evaluated with a transmission electron microscope (TEM)).

  In addition, since this semiconductor nanoparticle phosphor is semiconductor-based, it has a short fluorescence lifetime and can emit the excitation light power as fluorescence quickly, so that it is highly resistant to high-power excitation light. This is because the emission lifetime of the semiconductor nanoparticle phosphor is about 10 nanoseconds, which is five orders of magnitude smaller than that of a normal phosphor material having a rare earth as the emission center.

  Furthermore, as described above, since the emission lifetime is short, the absorption of the laser beam and the emission of the phosphor can be quickly repeated. As a result, high efficiency can be maintained with respect to strong laser light, and heat generation from the phosphor can be reduced.

  Therefore, it is possible to further suppress the deterioration (discoloration or deformation) of the cylindrical light emitter 40 due to heat. Thereby, when using the light emitting element with a high light output as a light source, it can suppress more that the lifetime of the light-emitting device 110 of this embodiment, the light-emitting devices 120-140 mentioned later, etc. becomes short.

  By the way, it is known that white light can be composed of a mixed color of three colors satisfying the principle of equal colors, or a mixed color of two colors satisfying the principle of complementary colors. White light can be generated by appropriately selecting the color of the laser light L0 oscillated from 101 and the color of the light emitted from the cylindrical light emitter 40.

  For example, in order to make the incoherent light L1 of the light emitting device 110 white, one method uses laser light having an oscillation wavelength (380 nm or more and less than 420 nm) in the blue-violet region as excitation light, and is included in the cylindrical light emitting body 40. A combination of a blue phosphor, a green phosphor, and a red phosphor may be employed as the phosphor to be obtained.

  Another method may employ a combination of laser light having an oscillation wavelength (440 nm or more and 490 nm or less) in the blue region, yellow phosphor, or green phosphor + red phosphor as excitation light.

  The yellow phosphor is a phosphor that emits light having a wavelength of 560 nm to 590 nm. The green phosphor is a phosphor that emits light having a wavelength of 510 nm or more and 560 nm or less. The red phosphor is a phosphor that emits light having a wavelength of 600 nm or more and 680 nm or less.

  Next, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the light emitting device 110 according to the present embodiment includes an LD chip 101, a truncated cone-shaped condensing unit 20, and a cylindrical light emitting body 40, each having an upper part of the housing. (Second housing) 50A and lower housing (first housing) 50B are sandwiched between one housing 50, and are fixed integrally.

  The housing 50 is made of, for example, a metal (SUS) block, and can hold and fix each of the LD chip 101, the truncated cone-shaped condensing unit 20, and the cylindrical light emitting body 40. Moreover, the housing | casing 50 does not need to be a rectangle.

  As an example of the manufacturing method of such a light emitting device 110, as will be described below, a first fitting hole (not shown) that engages with the lower portion of the LD chip 101, a lower portion of the truncated conical condensing portion 20, and the like. Lower case (first case) 50B having a second fitting hole (not shown) to be fitted and a third fitting hole (not shown) to be fitted to the lower part of the cylindrical light emitting body 40, and the LD chip 101 A fourth fitting hole (not shown) that fits with the upper part of the light source, a fifth fitting hole (not shown) that fits with the upper part of the frustoconical condensing part 20, and the upper part of the cylindrical light emitter 40. It can be manufactured using a housing upper part (second housing) 50A having a sixth fitting hole (not shown).

  FIG. 3A shows a fitting process which is one process of the method for manufacturing the light emitting device 110.

  In this fitting step, as shown in FIG. 3A, the LD chip 101 and the truncated cone-shaped condensing light are respectively provided in the first fitting hole, the second fitting hole, and the third fitting hole of the housing lower part 50B. The lower portions of the portion 20 and the cylindrical light emitting body 40 are fitted.

  Next, FIG. 3B shows a bonding process which is one process of the method for manufacturing the light emitting device 110.

  In this joining step, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), the housing is made against the housing lower portion 50B in which the lower portions of the LD chip 101, the frustoconical condensing part 20 and the cylindrical light emitter are fitted. The upper portions of the LD chip 101, the truncated conical condensing part 20 and the cylindrical light emitting body 40 are fitted in the fourth fitting hole, the fifth fitting hole and the sixth fitting hole of the upper part 50A, respectively. The casing upper part 50A is joined.

  In this embodiment, a configuration is adopted in which only the LD chip 101, the frustoconical condensing part 20, and the cylindrical light emitter 40 are sandwiched and fixed between the upper part 50A and the lower part 50B of the casing. A light transmitting member or a heat radiating member having a refractive index different from that of air is inserted between the LD chip 101 and the light incident surface 201 and between the light irradiation surface 202 and the cylindrical light emitting body 40, and the housing upper part 50A and It may be fixed by being sandwiched between the casing lower part 50B.

  When inserting translucent members having different refractive indexes, the LD chip 101, a collimating lens for collimating the laser light L0 generated from the LD chip 101, and a bundle fiber are connected in this order and emitted from the light emitting end of the bundle fiber. The case where the laser beam L0 is incident from the light incident surface 211 can be exemplified.

  As a result, the number of LD chips 101 can be increased without increasing the size of the light incident surface 201.

  In addition, as a case where translucent members having different refractive indexes are inserted, a case where a concave lens, a convex lens, or the above-described GRIN lens is provided between the light irradiation surface 202 and the cylindrical light emitter 40 can be exemplified.

  If a GRIN lens is used, for example, a lens action can be generated while the light irradiation surface 202 is kept flat without being concave or convex, so that the GRIN is applied to the light irradiation surface 202 of the frustoconical condensing unit 20. If the lens is bonded, the cylindrical light-emitting body 40 can be bonded to the end face of the GRIN lens without a gap.

  Thereby, since the laser beam L0 which is not irradiated to the cylindrical light emitter 40 can be reduced, the light emission efficiency of the cylindrical light emitter 40 can be further improved.

  Next, the housing upper part 50A and the housing lower part 50B are made of stainless steel (SUS). Further, examples of the method for joining the housing upper portion 50A and the housing lower portion 50B include welding, welding, and the like in addition to mechanical fastening by bonding, screws, and the like.

  As described above, even when each of the LD chip 101, the truncated cone-shaped condensing unit 20, and the cylindrical light emitter 40 is an independent component as in the light emitting device 110 of the present embodiment, the housing upper part 50A and the housing The LD chip 101, the truncated cone-shaped condensing part 20, and the cylindrical light emitting body 40 can be easily fixed integrally by being sandwiched between the lower parts 50B.

  Therefore, the relative positional relationship between the LD chip 101, the truncated cone-shaped condensing unit 20, and the cylindrical light emitter 40 is not shifted or is not easily shifted, so that the resistance to vibration of the light emitting device 110 can be increased.

  In addition, as a “method for fixing the LD chip 101, the truncated conical condensing unit 20 and the cylindrical light emitter 40 integrally”, the light incident surface 201 and the light irradiation surface 202 of the frustoconical condensing unit 20 are fitted. A method for fitting all or part of the cylindrical light emitter 40 and the LD chip 101 into the corresponding fitting holes by providing a joint hole, the light incident surface 201 of the frustoconical condensing part 20 and the light irradiation surface 202 In addition to the method of bonding the cylindrical light emitter 40 and the LD chip 101 to the surface, one or both of the LD chip 101 and the cylindrical light emitter 40, which will be described later, are sealed inside the frustoconical light collector 20. The method of doing etc. can be illustrated.

  As described above, it is possible to provide the light emitting device 110 having high resistance to vibration while allowing the cylindrical light emitting body 40 to be downsized.

[2. Outline of laser light source configuration)
Next, a specific example of the laser light source will be described based on FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b).

  FIG. 2A is a circuit diagram of an LD chip (laser light source) 11 which is an example of a laser light source, and FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram showing an overview of the LD chip 11.

  2A and 2B, the LD chip 11 has a configuration in which a cathode electrode 19, a substrate 18, a cladding layer 113, an active layer 111, a cladding layer 112, and an anode electrode 17 are stacked in this order. .

The substrate 18 is a semiconductor substrate, and it is preferable to use GaN, sapphire, or SiC in order to obtain blue to ultraviolet excitation light for exciting the phosphor as in the present application. In general, as a substrate for a semiconductor laser, in addition, a group IV semiconductor such as Si, Ge, and SiC, GaAs, GaP, InP, AlAs, GaN, InN, InSb, GaSb, and AlN are represented by III. -V group compound semiconductor, ZnTe, ZeSe, II-VI group compound such as ZnS and ZnO _{semiconductor, ZnO, Al 2 O 3,} SiO 2, TiO 2, CrO 2 and CeO ₂ or the like oxide insulator, and, SiN Any material of a nitride insulator such as is used.

  The anode electrode 17 is for injecting current into the active layer 111 through the cladding layer 112.

  The cathode electrode 19 is for injecting current into the active layer 111 from the lower part of the substrate 18 through the clad layer 113. The current is injected by applying a forward bias to the anode electrode 17 and the cathode electrode 19.

  The active layer 111 has a structure sandwiched between the clad layer 113 and the clad layer 112.

  As the material for the active layer 111 and the cladding layer, a mixed crystal semiconductor made of AlInGaN is used to obtain blue to ultraviolet excitation light. Generally, a mixed crystal semiconductor mainly composed of Al, Ga, In, As, P, N, and Sb is used as an active layer / cladding layer of a semiconductor laser, and such a configuration may be used. Moreover, you may be comprised by II-VI group compound semiconductors, such as Zn, Mg, S, Se, Te, and ZnO.

  The active layer 111 is a region where light emission is caused by the injected current, and the emitted light is confined in the active layer 111 due to a difference in refractive index between the cladding layer 112 and the cladding layer 113.

  Further, the active layer 111 is formed with a front side cleaved surface 114 and a back side cleaved surface 115 provided to face each other in order to confine light amplified by stimulated emission, and the front side cleaved surface 114 and the back side cleaved surface 115. Plays the role of a mirror.

  However, unlike a mirror that completely reflects light, a part of the light amplified by stimulated emission is obtained by cleaving the front side cleaved surface 114 and the back side cleaved surface 115 of the active layer 111 (in this embodiment, the front side cleaved surface 114 for convenience. And the excitation light L0. Note that the active layer 111 may form a multilayer quantum well structure.

  Note that a reflective film (not shown) for laser oscillation is formed on the back side cleaved surface 115 opposite to the front side cleaved surface 114, and the difference in reflectance between the front side cleaved surface 114 and the back side cleaved surface 115 is different. By providing, for example, most of the excitation light L0 can be emitted from the light emitting point 103 from the front-side cleavage surface 114 which is a low reflectance end face.

  As for film formation with each semiconductor layer such as the clad layer 113, the clad layer 112, and the active layer 111, MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition) method, MBE (molecular beam epitaxy) method, CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method. The film can be formed using a general film forming method such as a laser ablation method or a sputtering method. The film formation of each metal layer can be configured using a general film forming method such as a vacuum deposition method, a plating method, a laser ablation method, or a sputtering method.

[3. Other configuration examples of light emitting device)
Next, based on FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b) and FIGS. 6 (a) to 6 (c), a light emitting device 120 which is another embodiment of the present invention, a method for manufacturing the same, and yet another embodiment of the present invention. Each structure of the light-emitting device 130 which is embodiment is demonstrated.

  FIG. 4A shows a configuration of a light emitting device 120 that employs a truncated cone-shaped light converging portion (translucent member) 21 instead of the frustoconical light collecting portion 20 of the light emitting device 110.

  In this embodiment, the frustum-shaped condensing part 21 will be described as an example. However, the shape of the condensing part is not limited to this, and various shapes such as a frustum shape and a truncated pyramid shape can be employed.

Further, the material of the frustoconical light converging section 21 may be any material that transmits a laser beam, in the present embodiment, a quartz (SiO _2), a refractive index of 1.45.

  The frustoconical side surface (enclosed structure, light reflecting side surface) 213 of the frustoconical condensing part 21 is coated with a fluorine-based resin (polytetrafluoroethylene) having a refractive index of 1.35.

  As shown to Fig.4 (a), the light-emitting device 120 produces | generates incoherent light L1, and structures other than the truncated cone-shaped condensing part 21 are the same as the light-emitting device 110 mentioned above.

  However, in the light emitting device 120 of the present embodiment, the LD chip 101 is sealed inside the frustoconical condensing part 21.

  Thereby, since the LD chip 101 is sealed and fixed inside the frustoconical condensing part 21, the relative positional relationship between the frustoconical condensing part 21 and the LD chip 101 is easily fixed. can do.

  In addition, since the LD chip 101 exists inside the frustoconical condensing unit 21, the size of the light emitting device 120 can be reduced by the size of the LD chip 101.

  The stem on which the LD chip 101 is mounted is usually provided with a protective cap for protecting the LD chip 101, but this protective cap may or may not be provided.

  According to the truncated cone-shaped condensing part 21 in which the LD chip 101 mounted on the stem without the protective cap is sealed, the bonding wire of the LD chip 101 is broken if forcibly disassembled. Can be prevented.

  Further, in the light emitting device 120, the cylindrical light emitting body 40 is sealed inside the frustoconical condensing part 21.

  Thereby, since the cylindrical light-emitting body 40 is sealed and fixed inside the frustoconical light-collecting part 21, the relative relationship between the frusto-conical light-collecting part 21 and the cylindrical light-emitting body 40 can be easily achieved. The positional relationship can be fixed.

  In addition, since the cylindrical light emitter 40 is present inside the frustoconical condensing unit 21, the size of the light emitting device 120 can be reduced by the size of the cylindrical light emitter 40.

  As a method for manufacturing the light emitting device 120 as described above, for example, a lower mold (mold) SB and upper mold (mold) SA having a translucent member forming hole h3 as shown in FIG. The method using can be illustrated.

  The mold lower part SB and the mold upper part SA use resin molds.

  FIG. 6A shows an installation process which is one process of the method for manufacturing the light emitting device 120.

  In this installation step, as shown in FIG. 6A, each of the LD chip 101 and the cylindrical light emitting body 40 is installed (set) at a predetermined position inside the translucent member forming hole h3 of the mold lower part SB. .

  Next, FIG. 6B shows an injection process and a heating process which are one process of the method for manufacturing the light emitting device 120.

  After the above-described installation process, the mold upper part SA and the mold lower part SB are joined to obtain the state shown in FIG. 6B. Then, in the injection process, from the filling hole h1 provided in the mold upper part SA, A thermosetting resin having optical transparency is injected as a thermosetting translucent material. At this time, it is necessary to inject a sufficient amount of thermosetting resin into the translucent member forming hole h3.

  Examples of the thermosetting translucent material include an epoxy resin, an acrylic resin, a silicone resin, and an organic-inorganic hybrid material.

  In addition, the air hole h2 provided in the mold upper part SA is a hole for removing air that becomes a hindrance when a thermosetting resin having optical transparency is injected from the filling hole h1.

  Next, after the above-described injection step, the mold upper part SA and the mold lower part SB are heated, whereby the thermosetting resin inside the translucent member forming hole h3 is cured.

  Thereafter, the bonding state of the upper mold part SA and the lower mold part SB is released, and the light emitting device 120 shown in FIG. 6C includes the LD chip 101 and the cylindrical light emitting body 40 inside the truncated cone-shaped condensing part 21. Take out.

  The light emitting device 120 can be manufactured by the installation process, the injection process, and the overheating process described above.

  Next, as described above, the LD chip 101 is a one-chip, 10-striped semiconductor laser device having 10 light emitting points 102, an output of 11.2 W, an operating voltage of 5 V, a current of 6.4 A, and a diameter of 9 mm. Is mounted on the stem.

  In addition, in the LD chip 101 having the ten light emitting points 102, the size and interval of the light emitting points 102 are considerably small, so that it is difficult to guide the light with a bundle fiber or the like. Such a problem can be solved by using the light condensing part 21 or the like.

  The oscillation wavelength of the laser light L0 generated from the light emitting point 102 is 405 nm.

  Note that the oscillation wavelength of the laser light L0 generated from the light emitting point 102 is not limited to 405 nm, and may be any wavelength as long as it has an oscillation wavelength in a blue-violet region or a blue region (380 nm or more and 490 nm or less).

  When this LD chip 101 is used to output at 11.2 W, the power consumption is 32 W.

  As a result, the total luminous flux of the ten light emitting points 102 of the LD chip 101 is simply calculated as the luminous flux of the entire light source, so that the entire light source is compared with the case where only the one-chip 1-striped LD chip 11 is used. Can be increased by about 10 times. However, the laser performance at each light emitting point 102 is assumed to be equal.

  In this embodiment, the number of LD chips 101 is one, but the number of LD chips 101 is not limited to this, and two or more LD chips 101 may be used.

  Further, the laser light source may be a one-chip, multiple-stripe solid-state light source in which a plurality of laser light sources (light emitting points 102) are integrated as in the LD chip 101 of the present embodiment, or as in the LD chip 11. A solid-state light source having one chip and one stripe may be used.

  Next, the frustoconical condensing part 21 guides the laser beam L0 generated from the LD chip 101 and transmitted through the inside of the frustoconical condensing part 21 to the vicinity of the cylindrical light emitting body 40 to guide the light. The cylindrical light emitter 40 is irradiated with the laser beam L0.

  In addition, the material and coating of the truncated cone-shaped condensing part 21 are as described above.

  The frustoconical condensing part 21 has a surrounding structure surrounded by a truncated cone side surface (light reflecting side surface, surrounding structure) 213 that reflects the transmitted laser beam L0, and the laser beam L0 is emitted from the truncated cone side surface. 213 is guided to the vicinity of the cylindrical light emitter 40, and the cross-sectional area of the truncated cone top portion (the end closer to the light emitting portion and the end closer to the light emitting portion) 212 is the bottom of the truncated cone (laser light source). It is smaller than the cross-sectional area of 211.

  More specifically, the truncated cone bottom surface 211 has a circular shape with a diameter of about 10 mm, and the truncated cone top portion 212 has a circular shape with a diameter of about 2 mm.

  The optical coupling efficiency of the truncated cone-shaped condensing part 21 described above with respect to the LD chip 101 is 90%.

  In addition, about the effect of the truncated cone-shaped condensing part 21, etc., since it is substantially the same as the truncated cone-shaped condensing part 20, the description is abbreviate | omitted here.

  Next, the cylindrical light emitter 40 is as described above. In addition, as a shape of the light emitting unit, for example, when used in a vehicle headlamp, the rectangular parallelepiped light emitting body 41 can be used as described above.

  As described above, the light emitting device 120 irradiates the laser light L0 in accordance with the size of the light irradiation region of the cylindrical light emitting body 40 because the laser light L0 is guided (or condensed) by the truncated conical condensing unit 21. Can be made.

  Further, since most of the condensed laser light L0 can be irradiated, electrons in a low energy state change to a high energy state in the phosphor included in the cylindrical light emitting body 40 in accordance with the irradiated laser light L0. Excited.

  Therefore, since the incoherent light L1 is generated from the cylindrical light emitter 40 in accordance with the irradiated laser light L0, the light emitting device 120 has a higher luminous flux and higher brightness than the case where the single LD chip 11 is used. Can be realized.

  According to the above, the light emitting device 120 that can achieve high luminous flux, high luminance, and long life, and can prevent the spread of the irradiation range of the laser light L0 from increasing with respect to the size of the cylindrical light emitter 40. Can be provided.

  As the phosphor, the above-described sialon phosphor or III-V compound semiconductor nanoparticle phosphor is preferable, but the above-described YAG: Ce phosphor may be used.

  Next, FIG. 4B shows a configuration of a light emitting device 130 that employs a sealing member (translucent member) 22 instead of the frustoconical condensing unit 20 of the light emitting device 110.

  That is, the translucent member does not guide or condense the laser light L0 unlike the truncated cone-shaped condensing unit 20 of the light emitting device 120, but as the sealing member 22 of the present embodiment. Alternatively, the LD chip 101 and the cylindrical light emitter 40 may be simply sealed inside the sealing member side surface 223.

  Note that other configurations, manufacturing methods, and the like of the light emitting device 130 are substantially the same as those of the light emitting device 120 described above, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

[4. Preferred form of light guide irradiation member]
Next, based on FIGS. 7A and 7B, equidistant condensing portions (translucent members) 23 and a virtue-like condensing portion 24, which are examples of preferred embodiments of the translucent member of the present invention. Each structure of the (translucent member) will be described.

  First, the diagram shown in FIG. 7A is a cross-sectional view of the equidistant arrangement condensing unit 23 of the light emitting device 140 when viewed from the vertical direction upper side (that is, the equidistant arrangement condensing unit 23 is a horizontal plane). It is sectional drawing when cut.

  A circular cross-sectional fitting for fitting the cylindrical light-emitting body 40 to the top of the elliptical truncated cone (the end closer to the light emitting part, the end closer to the light emitting part) 232 of the equidistant condensing part 23 A hole (not shown) is provided, and the cylindrical light emitting body 40 is fitted into the fitting hole.

  Further, the equidistant curved surface (the one closer to the laser light source, one end of the translucent member) 231 of the equidistant condensing unit 23 has a cutting line when cut in a horizontal plane from the center O of the cylindrical light emitter 40. The cross-sectional shape is along an arc C that is equidistant.

  In other words, the cross-sectional shape is such that the bottom surface of the elliptical truncated cone is bent along the arc C.

  The elliptic frustum side surface (light reflecting side surface, surrounding structure) 233 surrounds the optical path of all the laser beams L0 generated from the LD chip 101.

  Thus, each of the plurality of LD chips 101 is arranged at an equal distance from the center O of the cylindrical light emitter 40, and the direction of the plurality of LD chips 101 is directed to the center of the cylindrical light emitter 40. The utilization efficiency of the laser light L0 emitted by the LD chip 101 (coupling efficiency = emission light from the other end of the equidistant condensing unit 23 / incident light from one end of the equidistant condensing unit 23) is almost maximized. Can be.

  At this time, the optical distances of the laser beams L0 generated from the plurality of LD chips 101 can be made substantially common. Therefore, for example, the intensity of the laser beam L0 can be further increased by aligning the phases of the laser beams L0 generated from the plurality of LD chips 101.

  Here, as another example of the cross-sectional shape of the equidistant curved surface 231, a cutting line when the end of the translucent member closer to the LD chip 11 is cut along a predetermined horizontal plane is the cylindrical light-emitting body 40. Examples of the cross-sectional shape may include a broken line composed of a plurality of line segments equidistant from the center O (not shown).

  Next, the figure shown in FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view of the bottle-shaped concentrator (translucent member) 24 when viewed from the upper side in the vertical direction (that is, the bottle-like concentrator 24 is cut along a horizontal plane. Is a sectional view).

  However, the virtue-shaped condensing part 24 has a structure in the vicinity of its virtue-shaped mouth part (the end closer to the light emitting part and the end closer to the light emitting part) 242, so the LD chip 101 side is omitted. Not shown.

  The bottle-like side surface (light reflecting side surface, surrounding structure) 243 surrounds the optical path of all the laser beams L0 generated from the LD chip 101.

  The bottle-shaped concentrator 24 has substantially the same structure as the truncated cone-shaped collector 21 (shown by a broken line) described above, but the structure of the bottle-shaped concentrator 24 near the bottle-shaped mouth 242 is slightly different. ing.

  That is, the virtue-like side surface 243 of the virtue-like light condensing part 24 is a curved surface convex inward in the vicinity of the virtue-like shape mouth part 242.

  In addition, the virtue-shaped mouth portion 242 of the virtue-shaped condensing portion 24 is provided with a fitting hole (not shown) having a circular cross section for fitting the cylindrical light-emitting body 40 into the fitting hole. A cylindrical light emitter 40 is fitted.

Here, in the case of the frustum-shaped truncated cone-shaped condensing unit 21 in which the generatrix of the truncated cone side surface 213 is a straight line, like the truncated cone-shaped condensing unit 21 indicated by a broken line in FIG. There results reflected a plurality of times with respect to a truncated cone side surface 213, in the vicinity of the conical Taiitadaki portion 212, the incident angle theta ₁ to the frustoconical side surface 213 of the laser light L0 incident on the point R becomes small.

Therefore, the laser light L0 incident on the point R is then reflected at a reflection angle theta ₂ proceeds in the direction of the laser beam LB, escapes without being irradiated to the cylindrical light emitting element 40.

However, if the virtue-like side surface 243 is a curved surface convex inward in the vicinity of the virtue-like mouth portion 242 as in the virtue-like shape condensing portion 24 shown in FIG. The incident angle θ ₃ of the laser beam L 0 can be made larger than the incident angle θ ₁ and reflected at the reflection angle θ ₄ to advance in the direction of the laser beam LA.

  Thereby, it can suppress that the laser beam L0 which injects into the point R escapes without being irradiated to the cylindrical light-emitting body 40. FIG. Therefore, the luminous efficiency of the cylindrical light emitter 40 can be further improved.

[5. How to select the shape of the end of the translucent member closer to the light emitting part)
Next, a method for selecting the shape of the end portion of the translucent member closer to the light emitting portion will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, as shown in FIG. 8A, when the LD chip 101 (a small rectangular parallelepiped on a large rectangular parallelepiped end) is horizontally installed, the laser light L0 emitted from the LD chip 101 is longitudinal (vertical). The direction of light emission is a long elliptical cone shape that is long in the direction and short in the horizontal direction.

  Here, it is assumed that the laser light L0 emitted from the light emitting point 102 of the LD chip 101 has a very large aspect ratio (aspect ratio) (for example, 5 degrees in the horizontal direction and 30 degrees in the vertical direction). It is assumed that the superposition of the laser beams L0 generated from the respective light emission points 102 shows a light emission tendency that becomes an elliptical cone shape.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG.8 (b), the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body (light emission part) 41 is a rectangular parallelepiped shape short in a perpendicular direction and long in a horizontal direction.

  Then, in order to increase the light emission efficiency of the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41, an optical component that converts the laser light L0 spreading in a vertically long elliptical cone shape into the laser light L0 that is short in the vertical direction and long in the horizontal direction is necessary. .

  Next, the light emission tendency when the above-described equidistant arrangement light condensing unit 23 is employed will be described.

  First, the state shown in FIG. 8 (c) is a truncated cone top portion (the one closer to the light emitting portion, as a pattern of the light emission tendency of the emitted light of the equidistant condensing portion 23 when the convex lens-like curved surface 30 does not exist. The case where the horizontal width of the end portion 232 near the light emitting portion) 232 is relatively large and the horizontal spread of the laser light L0 is larger than the horizontal width of the rectangular parallelepiped light emitting body 41 is shown. An example of such a case is a case where the horizontal width of the truncated cone top portion 232 is larger than the horizontal width of the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41.

  Further, even when the horizontal width of the truncated cone top portion 232 is smaller than the horizontal width of the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41, depending on the shape of the equidistant condensing portion 23, the laser beam L0 may spread in the horizontal direction. In some cases, the rectangular light-emitting body 41 may be larger than the horizontal width.

  For example, when the truncated cone top portion 232 is formed of a flat surface, the laser light L0 emitted from the truncated cone top portion 232 cannot normally be parallel light, and is emitted with a slight spread.

  Therefore, not only the magnitude relationship between the horizontal width of the truncated cone top portion 232 and the horizontal width of the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41 but also the distance from the truncated cone top portion 232 to the rectangular solid-shaped light emitting body 41 is separated (separated). If the rectangular parallelepiped light emitter 41 is installed), the horizontal spread of the laser light L0 can be larger than the horizontal width of the rectangular parallelepiped light emitter 41.

  Next, the state shown in FIG. 8 (e) is the horizontal width of the truncated cone top portion 232 as a pattern of the light emission tendency of the emitted light of the equidistant condensing portion 23 when the concave lens-like curved surface 31 does not exist. Is comparatively small and the horizontal spread of the laser beam L0 is smaller than the width of the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41.

  As such a case, a case where the horizontal width of the truncated cone top portion 232 is extremely smaller than the horizontal width of the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41 is a good example.

  Further, even if the horizontal width of the truncated cone top portion 232 is not extremely smaller than the horizontal width of the rectangular parallelepiped light emitter 41, the horizontal width of the rectangular parallelepiped light emitter 41 is the same as the horizontal width of the truncated cone top portion 232. Even when the laser beam L0 emitted from the truncated cone top portion 232 becomes almost parallel light by devising the optical design of the equidistant condensing portion 23 when the size is the same as the width, The horizontal spread of the laser beam L0 can be smaller than the horizontal width of the rectangular parallelepiped light emitter 41.

  Here, the convex lens-shaped curved surface (end portion closer to the light emitting portion) 30 shown in FIG. 8D has an axis in the vertical direction (the front and back direction of the paper surface), and the convex portion faces the rectangular parallelepiped light emitting body 41 side. This is an optical component having a function of reducing the horizontal spread of the laser light L0 with respect to the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8C, when the horizontal spread of the laser beam L <b> 0 is larger than the horizontal width of the rectangular parallelepiped light emitter 41, the equidistant condensing unit 23 and the rectangular parallelepiped light emitter 41. In other words, the convex lens-shaped curved surface 30 may be provided as the truncated cone top portion 232.

  Instead of the convex lens-shaped curved surface 30, the above-described GRIN lens having a convex lens function may be attached to the other end of the equidistant condensing unit 23.

  If a GRIN lens is used, for example, a lens action can be generated while the truncated cone top 232 is made flat without being concave or convex, so that the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41 is bonded to the end face of the GRIN lens without any gap. can do.

  Thereby, since the laser beam L0 which is not irradiated to the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41 can be reduced, the light emission efficiency of the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41 can be further improved.

  On the other hand, a concave lens-like curved surface (an end portion closer to the light emitting portion) 31 shown in FIG. 8F is a concave lens having an axis in the vertical direction and a concave portion facing the rectangular parallelepiped light emitting body 41, and the laser light L0. This is an optical component having a function of increasing the horizontal spread with respect to the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41.

  Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 8E, when the horizontal spread of the laser beam L0 is smaller than the horizontal width of the light irradiation region of the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41, the equidistant condensing unit 23 and the rectangular parallelepiped. In other words, the concave lens-like curved surface 31 may be provided between the light-emitting bodies 41, that is, as the truncated cone top portion 232.

  Instead of the concave lens-shaped curved surface 31, the above-described GRIN lens having a concave lens function may be attached to the other end of the equidistant condensing unit 23.

  Thereby, since the laser beam L0 which is not irradiated to the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41 can be reduced, the light emission efficiency of the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41 can be further improved.

  Also, depending on the shape of the irradiation area of the light emitting part, a compound lens-like curved surface integrating a concave surface having an arbitrary axis and a lens-like curved surface having a convex surface, and a lens-like curved surface having a convex surface and an convex surface having an arbitrary axis are integrated. Alternatively, a complex lens-shaped curved surface, a concave surface having an arbitrary axis, and a compound lens-shaped curved surface obtained by integrating a lens-shaped curved surface having a concave surface may be employed.

  Thereby, the luminous efficiency of a light emission part can be improved by employ | adopting a suitable compound lens-like curved surface according to the shape of the light irradiation area | region of a light emission part.

[5. (Relation between the tendency of light emission at the end of the translucent member on the light emitting portion side and the lens)
Next, based on FIG. 8A and FIG. 9A to FIG. 9E, the light irradiation surface of the truncated pyramid condensing part (translucent member) 25 which is still another example of the translucent member ( The relationship between the light emission tendency at the end 252 near the light emitting portion and the end closer to the light emitting portion and the lens will be described.

  First, based on FIGS. 9A to 9E, the direction of each LD chip 101 and the light emission tendency of each emitted light LC emitted from the light irradiation surface 252 of the truncated pyramid condensing unit 25 will be described.

  By the way, from the viewpoint of total reflection of the laser beam L0 by the truncated pyramid side surface (light reflecting side surface, surrounding structure) 253 of the truncated pyramidal condensing unit 25, the orientation of each LD chip 101 is as shown in FIG. In addition, although it is preferable to set the orientation of each LD chip 101 in a horizontal state (the state shown in FIG. 8A), the reason will be described first.

  This is higher than the vertical angle θ on the LD chip 101 side on the upper surface of the truncated pyramid-shaped condensing unit 25 shown in FIG. 9A, on the upper surface side on the side surface of the truncated pyramid-shaped condensing unit 25 shown in FIG. This is because the vertical angle φ is larger.

  That is, from the viewpoint of total reflection of the laser beam L0 by the truncated pyramid side surface 253 of the truncated pyramid condensing unit 25, the angle at which the laser beam L0 is incident on the truncated pyramid side surface 253 of the truncated pyramid shaped condensing unit 25 is as small as possible. (It is better that the incident angle with respect to the truncated pyramid side surface 253 is larger).

For example, how laser light L0, which had missing result of the incident angle theta ₁ with respect to the truncated pyramid sides 253 too small, out of the truncated pyramid light converging section 25 without being totally reflected shown in FIG. 9 (a) Is shown.

On the other hand, the laser light L0 shown in FIG. 9 (b) has a large incident angle phi ₁ to the truncated pyramid side 253, and total reflection.

  In other words, the laser beam L0 has a high probability of escaping with respect to the horizontal direction of the truncated pyramid-shaped condensing portion 25 having a cross-sectional shape that is long in the horizontal direction and short in the vertical direction, and has a low probability of escaping in the vertical direction.

  Then, it is preferable that the irradiation range in the vicinity of the truncated pyramid bottom surface 251 of the laser light L0 generated from each LD chip 101 is long in the vertical direction and short in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. Conceivable.

  By the way, in this manner (as shown in FIG. 9C), in the state where the orientation of each LD chip 101 is horizontal (the state of FIG. 8A), the orientation of each LD chip 101 described below is changed. Each outgoing light LC emitted from the light irradiation surface 252 of the truncated pyramid-shaped condensing unit 25 has a horizontal spread as compared with the case where it is rotated 90 degrees from the horizontal state (in the case of FIG. 9D). The tendency is small and the spread in the vertical direction is large.

  Therefore, in such a case, the light-irradiation surface 252 is a concave-convex compound lens shape in which a concave lens having a vertical axis and a convex lens having a horizontal axis are integrated. (Not particularly shown).

  As a result, even when the spread of each outgoing light LC emitted from the light irradiation surface 252 is small in the horizontal direction and large in the vertical direction, the concave-convex compound lens shape is formed in the horizontal direction of the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41 according to the shape. The emitted light LC derived from each laser beam L0 can be distributed and irradiated on the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41 in accordance with the size and the size in the vertical direction.

  Next, based on FIG. 9D, the relationship between the horizontal spread and the vertical spread of each outgoing light LC emitted from the light irradiation surface 252 is opposite to the case of FIG. 9C described above. A case will be described.

  FIG. 9D is a schematic diagram illustrating another example of the light emission tendency on the light irradiation surface 252 of the truncated pyramid-shaped condensing unit 25.

  FIG. 9D shows that each laser beam L0 generated when the orientation of each LD chip 101 is rotated 90 degrees from the horizontal state (the state of FIG. 8A) is a truncated pyramid-shaped condensing unit 25. It shows a state of being generated from the bottom surface 251 of the truncated pyramid.

  At this time, each laser beam L0 generated from each LD chip 101 has an elliptical irradiation surface with an aspect ratio (aspect ratio) of 5 degrees in the vertical direction, 30 degrees in the vertical direction, long horizontally, and short vertically. It becomes light to have.

  For this reason, each outgoing light LC emitted from the light irradiation surface 252 of the truncated pyramid-shaped condensing unit 25 tends to have a relatively large horizontal spread and a relatively small vertical spread.

  Then, for example, in the case of FIG. 9D, the horizontal spread of the emitted light LC emitted from the light irradiation surface 252 of the truncated pyramid-shaped condensing unit 25 is the horizontal width of the rectangular parallelepiped light emitter 41. And the vertical spread of the outgoing light LC may be smaller than the vertical width of the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41.

  In such a case, a part of the laser light L0 that is not irradiated onto the rectangular parallelepiped light emitter 41 and a portion where the laser light L0 is not irradiated onto the rectangular parallelepiped light emitter 41 may be generated, so that the luminous efficiency of the rectangular parallelepiped light emitter 41 is reduced. The problem that it ends up occurs.

  Therefore, in such a case, contrary to the concave-convex compound lens shape described above, a convex-concave compound lens shape in which a convex lens having a convex surface having an axis in the vertical direction and a concave lens having a concave surface having an axis in the horizontal direction are integrated ( In addition, about this convex-concave compound lens shape, it is necessary to employ | adopt (not shown in particular here).

  As described above, the spread of the emitted light LC of the light irradiation surface 252 is suppressed with respect to the convex surface and promoted with respect to the concave surface.

  Therefore, even when the spread of each outgoing light LC emitted from the light irradiation surface 252 is large in the horizontal direction and small in the vertical direction, a convex lens having a convex surface having an axis in the vertical direction and a concave surface having an axis in the horizontal direction are provided. The rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41 is irradiated with the emitted light LC in accordance with the shape of the concave-convex compound lens integrated with the concave lens having the horizontal size and the vertical size of the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41 according to the shape. Can be.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 9E, another example of the direction of each LD chip 101 and the light emission tendency of each emitted light LC emitted from the light irradiation surface 252 of the truncated pyramid-shaped condensing unit 25 will be described. .

  FIG. 9E is a schematic diagram illustrating still another example of the light emission tendency on the light irradiation surface 252 of the truncated pyramid-shaped condensing unit 25.

  FIG. 9 (e) occurs when the orientation of each LD chip 101 is horizontal (the state of FIG. 8 (a)) and the state rotated 90 degrees from the horizontal state are alternately arranged. The laser beam L0 to be generated is generated from the truncated pyramid bottom surface 251 side of the truncated pyramid-shaped condensing unit 25.

  At this time, each outgoing light LC emitted from the light irradiation surface 252 of the truncated pyramid-shaped condensing unit 25 tends to have a relatively large horizontal spread and a relatively large vertical spread.

  Then, for example, in the case of FIG. 9 (e), the horizontal spread of the emitted light LC emitted from the light irradiation surface 252 of the truncated pyramid-shaped condensing unit 25 is the horizontal width of the rectangular parallelepiped light emitter 41. And the spread of the emitted light LC in the vertical direction may be larger than the vertical width of the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41.

  In such a case, the laser light L0 that is not irradiated onto the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41 may be generated, which causes a problem that the light emission efficiency of the rectangular parallelepiped light-emitting body 41 decreases.

  Therefore, in such a case, for example, a convex lens having a convex surface having an axis in the horizontal direction and a convex lens having a convex surface having an axis in the vertical direction are integrated. Then, it is necessary to employ (not particularly shown).

  As described above, the spread of the light emitted from the light irradiation surface 252 is suppressed by using a convex lens.

  Therefore, a convex lens having a convex surface having an axis in the horizontal direction and a convex surface having an axis in the vertical direction even when the spread of each outgoing light LC emitted from the light irradiation surface 252 is large in the horizontal direction and also in the vertical direction. A single convex lens having a convex lens integrated with each other so that each of the emitted light LC is irradiated onto the rectangular parallelepiped light emitter 41 according to the horizontal size and vertical size of the rectangular light emitter 41 according to its shape. Can be.

  Note that, in the above, the irradiation range of the laser light L0 from each LD chip 101 is long in the vertical direction in the same direction (FIG. 9C), or long in the horizontal direction in the same direction (FIG. 9). (D)) Three forms of the case where the irradiation range long in the vertical direction and the irradiation range long in the horizontal direction are alternately arranged (FIG. 9E) have been described.

  However, the orientation and arrangement method of the LD chips 101 are not limited to the three forms described here. For example, various forms such as when the orientations of the LD chips 101 are different are included in the scope of the present invention. Not too long.

  That is, the orientations of the LD chips 101 may be arbitrary orientations, the orientations of all or a part of the LD chips 101 may be aligned, and the orientations of the LD chips 101 are completely different. May be.

[6. General configuration of lighting device (1)]
Next, a schematic configuration of each of the illumination device 150, the illumination device 160, and the illumination device 170, which is an embodiment of the illumination device of the present invention, will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, FIG. 10A is a schematic diagram illustrating an appearance of the lighting device 150, and FIG. 10B is a cross-sectional view of the lighting device 150 cut along a plane passing through the vertical axis.

  As shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, the lighting device 150 includes the light emitting device 120 described above, and includes a cap 60, a terminal 151, a base 152, a constant current circuit 153, and lead wires 154, 155, and 156. It is the composition provided.

  The cap 60 is for fixing and holding the light emitting device 120. The cap 60 may be made of a light transmissive material, or may be made of a light transmissive material.

  The terminal 151 and the base 152 supply power to the lighting device 150. The conducting wire 154 is connected to the terminal 151 via the constant current circuit 153. On the other hand, the lead wire 155 and the base 152 are connected.

  The constant current circuit 153 is a circuit for supplying (flowing) a predetermined current necessary for causing the LD chip 101 to emit light.

  As described above, it is possible to provide the lighting device 150 having high resistance to vibration while allowing the cylindrical light emitter 40 to be downsized.

  Next, the illuminating device 160 shown in FIG. 10C is an example of an incandescent bulb type illuminating device, and only the point where the glass bulb 70 is used instead of the cap 60 of the illuminating device 150 is the same as the illuminating device 150. It is only different.

  The glass sphere 70 is made of transparent glass or ground glass having light transparency.

  The illumination device 170 shown in FIG. 10D is an example of a halogen lamp type illumination device, and is different from the illumination device 150 only in that a glass ball 80 is used instead of the cap 60 of the illumination device 150. It ’s just that. The glass sphere 80 is made of transparent glass having light transparency. Needless to say, in order to make the illumination device 170 compatible with a halogen lamp, it is necessary to design the lighting device 170 so as to satisfy the JIS standard (Japanese Industry Standard).

  In the illumination devices 150 to 170 described above, an example using the light emitting device 120 described above is shown, but other light emitting devices such as the light emitting device 130 can also be used.

  As described above, by integrating the constant current circuit 153 and providing the base 152 and the like, it is possible to realize an illumination device that is compatible with incandescent bulbs, halogen lamps, HID lamps, and the like that have been used so far.

  As a secondary effect, the illumination devices 150 to 170 are integrated in a form that cannot be disassembled so that the LD chip 101 itself capable of high output oscillation cannot be taken out alone. it can.

  Therefore, it is possible to prevent only the light emitting device 120 (or the LD chip 101) from being taken out from the lighting devices 150 to 170 and misused.

  For example, as described above, forcibly disassembling the truncated conical condensing portion 21 in which the LD chip 101 mounted on the stem without the protective cap is sealed, the bonding wire of the LD chip 101 is broken, so that the light emitting device Misuse of 120 (or LD chip 101) can be prevented.

[7. General configuration of lighting device (Part 2)]
Next, based on FIG. 11, the illuminating device 180 which is one Embodiment of this invention is demonstrated.

  The configuration other than the reflecting mirror 90 and the transparent plate 91 shown in FIG. 11 is the same as the configuration of the light emitting device 120 shown in FIG.

  First, the reflecting mirror 90 reflects incoherent light L <b> 1 (hereinafter simply referred to as “light”) emitted from the cylindrical light emitting body 40 to form a light bundle that travels within a predetermined solid angle. That is, the reflecting mirror 90 reflects the light from the cylindrical light emitter 40 to form a light bundle that travels forward of the illumination device 180. The reflecting mirror 90 is, for example, a curved surface (cup shape) member having a metal thin film formed on the surface thereof, and opens in the traveling direction of reflected light.

  In the present embodiment, the reflecting mirror 90 is hemispherical, and the center thereof is the focal position. Further, the opening of the reflecting mirror 90 is a plane perpendicular to the traveling direction of the light reflected by the reflecting mirror 90 (a plane perpendicular to the traveling direction of the light emitted from the reflecting mirror 90 to the outside of the illumination device 180). ) And an opening surface including the center of the reflecting mirror 90.

Furthermore, the area of the opening surface is smaller than 2000 mm ² (the diameter of the opening surface (optical system diameter) is smaller than 50 mm). That is, the size of the reflecting mirror 90 when viewed from the direction in which the light reflected by the reflecting mirror 90 is emitted (directly in front of the vehicle) is smaller than 2000 mm ² . Although the area of the opening surface is smaller than 2000 mm ² here, it may be smaller than 1500 mm ² (diameter 43.7 mm).

For example, when a conventional halogen lamp is used as a head lamp for a high beam, if the area of the opening surface is smaller than 2000 mm ² , light that satisfies the luminous intensity range defined as the high beam may not be emitted. There is.

However, in the illumination device 180, as described later, the luminance of the cylindrical light emitter 40 can be made larger than 25 cd / mm ² which is the maximum luminance that can be realized by the halogen lamp, and therefore the area of the opening surface is made smaller than 2000 mm ^2. However, it is possible to emit light satisfying the luminous intensity range defined as a high beam.

Further, there is an HID lamp having a luminance of about 75 cd / mm ² as a high-intensity light source. However, the HID lamp has a problem that it is not excellent in instantaneous lighting performance, and is not suitable for a headlamp for a high beam.

  Therefore, the lighting device 180 can realize a high beam lighting device that is overwhelmingly smaller than the conventional lighting device in consideration of practicality.

Even if the HID lamp is used as a high beam headlamp, if the area of the aperture surface is made smaller than 1500 mm ² , light that satisfies the luminous intensity range defined as the high beam may not be emitted. There is also the problem of getting.

However, in the lighting device 180, the luminance of the cylindrical light emitter 40 can be made larger than 75 cd / mm ^2, which is a maximum luminance at a practical level, which can be realized by an HID lamp, as will be described later. Even if it is smaller than 1500 mm ^2, light satisfying the luminous intensity range defined as a high beam can be emitted.

  Next, the transparent plate 91 is a transparent resin plate that covers the opening of the reflecting mirror 90. The transparent plate 91 is made of a material that blocks the laser light L0 from the LD chip 101 and transmits white light (incoherent light L1) generated by converting the laser light L0 in the cylindrical light emitter 40. It is preferable to do.

  Most of the coherent laser light L0 is converted into incoherent light L1 by the cylindrical light emitter 40. However, there may be a case where a part of the laser beam L0 is not converted for some reason. Even in such a case, the laser beam L0 can be prevented from leaking to the outside by blocking the laser beam L0 by the transparent plate 91.

[8. (Light distribution characteristics of light-emitting device)
Next, a light-emitting device (hereinafter referred to as a prototype) was prototyped using ten LD chips 11 which are one-chip, one-stripe semiconductor lasers (oscillation wavelength is 405 nm), and experiments were conducted. The output of each LD chip 11 is 1.0 W, the operating voltage is 5 V, and the current is 0.6 A.

  Moreover, the truncated cone-shaped condensing part 20 was used as a translucent member, and the cylindrical light-emitting body 40 (diameter 2mm, thickness 1mm) was employ | adopted as a light emission part.

  The optical coupling efficiency of each LD chip 11 and the truncated cone-shaped condensing part 20 is about 90%.

  When the light distribution characteristics were examined in this prototype, a luminous flux of about 1350 lm (lumen) was emitted from the cylindrical light emitter 40.

Moreover, the brightness | luminance of the cylindrical light-emitting body 40 at this time was about 48.9Mcd / m < ² > (mega candela per square meter).

  From this experimental result, since the light flux per LD chip 11 is about 135 lm by simple calculation, for example, when 15 or more LD chips 11 are used, the cylindrical light emitter 40 exceeds about 2000 lm. It turns out that it is possible.

In addition, if 20 LD chips 11 are used, it is difficult to calculate an accurate value because light emission is not isotropic in reality, but it is assumed that light is emitted isotropically from a light emitting point. By simple calculation, luminous intensity (light flux per unit solid angle) = 135 × 20 (lm) / 4π≈2700 (lm) /4/3.14≈215 (cd) and effective aperture area is about 3.14 mm ² When the transmittance of the optical system is 0.7, the luminance is approximately 215 (cd) /0.7/3.14 (mm ² ) ≈97.8 (cd / mm ² ) ≈100 (Mcd / m ² ) It turns out that it becomes.

In addition, when the same experiment was performed by adjusting the number of LD chips 11, the cylindrical light emitting body 40 and the rectangular parallelepiped light emitting body 41 (length × width × height = 1 mm × 3 mm × 1 mm) were actually It has been found that a high luminous flux exceeding 2000 lm and a high luminance exceeding 100 Mcd / m ² can be realized (hereinafter, such a light emitting device having a high luminance and a high luminous flux is simply referred to as “laser illumination”).

[9. Comparison of light distribution characteristics between light emitting device and conventional lamp)
Next, based on FIG. 12 to FIG. 13C, the comparison result of the light distribution characteristics between the laser illumination described above and the conventional lamp will be described.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a state in which lens diameters required for automobile headlamps are compared by lamp type.

As shown in FIG. 12, the brightness of the commercially available halogen lamp is about 25 Mcd / m ² (mega candela per square meter), and the brightness of the HID lamp is about 80 Mcd / m ² .

On the other hand, since the above-described laser illumination can achieve a high luminance of about 100 Mcd / m ² , as shown in FIG. 12, it can be seen that a high luminance exceeding the HID lamp can be realized about four times as much as the halogen lamp. .

That is, the luminance of the incoherent light L1 generated by the cylindrical light emitter 40 (or the rectangular parallelepiped light emitter 41) is preferably 80 Mcd / m ² or more.

  In addition, halogen lamps are usually used for high beam headlamps of automobiles. However, in laser illumination, for example, by using the above-described cylindrical light emitter 40 (or rectangular light emitter 41), a halogen lamp is used. In addition, the cylindrical light emitter 40 (or cuboid light emitter 41) having a small mouth area size can achieve about four times as high brightness as the halogen lamp, so the area of the lens installed in front of the high beam headlamp can be reduced to 1 /. It is possible to reduce it to 4.

  In addition, the size of the light emitting filament of the halogen lamp is about horizontal × vertical × height = 5 mm × 1.5 mm × 1.5 mm.

  Next, FIG. 13A is a diagram comparing the performance of each type of lamp, and FIG. 13B is a diagram illustrating an example of the external configuration of a conventional automotive headlamp. (c) is a figure which shows an example of the external appearance structure of the headlamp for motor vehicles at the time of using a laser illumination.

  First, as shown in FIG. 13A, the luminous flux of a commercially available high-power white LED (hereinafter, the description of “high output” may be omitted because it is complicated) is 400 to 500 lm (lumen) per module. The upper limit of the luminous flux is about 700 to 1500 lm (usually about 1000 lm for a halogen lamp for a passenger car), and the luminous flux of the HID lamp is about 3200 lm. However, it is difficult for the HID lamp to use all the light flux of 3200 lm for the irradiation light of the headlamp because of its structure and shape. Effectively, only a luminous flux of 2000 lm or less can be used. In addition, there is a problem that it is difficult to design an optical system.

  On the other hand, since the laser illumination of the embodiment can realize a high luminous flux exceeding 2000 lm, the luminous flux is about 4 to 5 times that of the white LED and is close to the HID lamp beyond the halogen lamp (effectively high luminous flux exceeding the HID lamp). ) Can be realized.

  That is, it is preferable that the luminous flux of the incoherent light L1 generated by the cylindrical light emitter 40 is 1500 lm or more and 3200 lm or less.

  Moreover, although white LED is normally used for the headlamp for low beams of a motor vehicle, according to the laser illumination of an Example, a high luminous flux for 4-5 lights of white LED is implement | achieved by one lamp, for example. Can do.

  Assuming that FIG. 13A shows the size of the conventional headlamp from the above examination results, according to the laser illumination of the embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG. Each of the headlamps for the low beam and the low beam only requires one lamp, and the area of the lens installed in front of the headlamps for the high beam and the low beam can be considerably reduced.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 13 (a), the laser illumination has a lifetime of about 10,000 hours due to continuous use, which is as long as a white LED.

  Therefore, it is possible to provide the light emitting devices 110 to 140, the lighting devices 150 to 180, and the like that can realize high luminance, high luminous flux, and long life.

[10. (About laser downlight)
A laser downlight (light emitting device, illumination device) 410 according to still another embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 14 (a) and 14 (b).

  FIG. 14A is a perspective view showing an appearance of the laser downlight 410, and FIG. 14B is a cross-sectional view showing the entire configuration of the laser downlight 410. As shown in FIG.

  The laser downlight 410 is an illuminating device installed on the ceiling of a structure such as a house or a vehicle. As shown in FIG. 14A, the above-described light bulb-type illuminating device 150 is attached to the housing 411. This can be realized easily.

  The laser downlight 410 uses, as illumination light, fluorescence generated by irradiating the cylindrical light emitter 40 with the laser light L0 emitted from the LD chip 101 inside the illumination device 150.

  Note that an illuminating device having the same configuration as the laser downlight 410 may be installed on the side wall or floor of the structure, and the number and installation locations of the illuminating devices are not particularly limited.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 14A and 14B, the laser downlight 410 is embedded in the top plate 401 and fixed by the mounting bracket 416. The installation method of 410 is not particularly limited.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 14B, the laser downlight 410 includes a lighting device 150, a housing 411, a recess 412, an AC / DC converter 413, a light source driving DC line 415, and a household AC100V line 414. .

  Since each component of the illuminating device 150 is as above-mentioned, the description is abbreviate | omitted here.

  A recess 412 is formed in the housing 411, and the lighting device 150 is inserted into a screw hole (not shown) on the bottom surface of the recess 412. A metal thin film is formed on the surface of the recess 412, and the recess 412 functions as a reflecting mirror.

  A transparent or semi-transparent light-transmitting plate (not shown) may be disposed so as to close the opening of the recess 412. The light transmissive plate is preferably formed of a material that blocks the laser light L0 from the LD chip 101 and transmits the incoherent light L1 generated by converting the laser light L0.

  Most of the coherent laser light L0 is converted into incoherent L1 by the cylindrical light emitter 40. However, there may be a case where a part of the laser beam L0 is not converted for some reason. Even in such a case, it is possible to prevent the laser light L0 from leaking to the outside by blocking the laser light L0 by the light transmitting plate.

  In addition, the fluorescence of the cylindrical light emitter 40 is emitted as illumination light through the light transmitting plate. The translucent plate may be removable from the housing 411 or may be omitted.

  Next, in FIGS. 14A and 14B, the laser downlight 410 has a circular outer edge, but the shape of the laser downlight 410 (more precisely, the shape of the housing 411) is particularly great. It is not limited.

  Further, unlike a headlamp, the downlight does not require an ideal point light source, and a level of one light emitting point is sufficient. Therefore, there are fewer restrictions on the shape, size and arrangement of the cylindrical light emitter 40 than in the case of a headlamp.

  Next, household AC100V line 414 supplies an electric current to lighting device 150 from a household outlet.

  The current supplied via the home AC 100 V line 414 is converted from AC to DC by the AC / DC converter 413 and supplied to the lighting device 150 via the light source driving DC line 415.

  Since the above-described laser downlight 410 is equipped with the illumination device 150 having a high luminous flux, sufficient illumination light can be obtained even with one light emitting point. Therefore, since the light emitting point is single, the effect that the shadow caused by the illumination light appears clearly can be obtained.

  Further, the color rendering property of the illumination light can be enhanced by making the phosphor of the cylindrical light-emitting body 40 a high color rendering phosphor (for example, a combination of several kinds of oxynitride phosphors).

  Further, the laser downlight 410 can be obtained by replacing a commercially available bulb-type downlight conventional bulb with the illumination device 150 by adjusting the size and shape of the illumination device 150 to the standard of a conventional bulb. Since it can be realized easily, the sales promotion effect is expected to be very high.

  The present invention can also be expressed as follows.

  A laser illumination light source (light emitting device) according to the present invention includes a semiconductor laser element (laser light source), a light emitting unit including a phosphor material that receives laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser element and emits illumination light (light), and a semiconductor. A light guide member (translucent member) for guiding laser light emitted from the laser element to the light emitting unit is integrated (packaged).

  That is, the laser illumination light source of the present invention is roughly composed of the following three points.

  (1) A semiconductor laser element which is an excitation light source.

  (2) A light emitting part containing a phosphor.

  (3) A light guide member that guides laser light emitted from the laser light source to the light emitting unit.

  (4) The above three points (1) to (3) are housed in one housing (package).

  The housing is made of, for example, a metal (SUS) block divided into two parts, and can hold and fix each of the semiconductor laser element, the light guide member, and the light emitting unit firmly. Further, the casing need not be rectangular.

  As another configuration, it is also possible to integrate by using a light guide member including at least one of the semiconductor laser element and the light emitting unit.

  In such a configuration, the light guide member is made of a thermosetting translucent material (for example, epoxy resin, acrylic resin, silicone resin, organic-inorganic hybrid material), etc. After the light emitting part is set at a predetermined position of the resin mold, it can be produced by filling and curing the translucent material.

  Further, the laser illumination light source and the constant current circuit may be integrated, and the constant current circuit may be, for example, an illumination device provided in a base.

  According to the above configuration, since the light emitting unit including the phosphor material is excited using the semiconductor laser element as the excitation light source, it is possible to realize a laser illumination light source that is ultra-compact and ultra-bright compared to other lamps and light sources. Furthermore, since the semiconductor laser element, the light emitting part, and the light guiding part are integrated, it is resistant to vibration.

  Furthermore, by providing a constant current circuit and a base, it is possible to realize an illumination device that can be easily replaced with an incandescent bulb, a halogen lamp, an HID lamp, or the like.

  The present invention can also be expressed as follows.

  In the light emitting device of the present invention, the laser light source is composed of a single semiconductor laser having a plurality of laser light emitting ends, and the laser light is a laser light emitted from the corresponding laser light emitting ends. There may be.

  In the light-emitting device of the present invention, the light-emitting portion may include an oxynitride phosphor.

In the light emitting device of the present invention, the luminance of the light generated by the light emitting unit may be 80 Mcd / m ² or more.

  In the light emitting device of the present invention, the light flux generated by the light emitting unit may be 1500 lm or more and 3200 lm or less.

  According to the above, it is possible to reduce the size of the light emitting unit and increase the resistance to vibration.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and the technical means disclosed in different embodiments can be appropriately combined. Such embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  The present invention can be applied to a laser illumination light source, a light source device, a light emitting device, and a lighting device, a lamp, and a lighting fixture provided with these, which are highly demanded for miniaturization.

11 LD chip (laser light source)
20, 21 Frustum condensing part (translucent member)
22 Sealing member (translucent member)
23 Condensation part for equidistant arrangement (translucent member)
24 Glass bottle concentrator (translucent member)
25 Pyramidal condensing part (translucent member)
30 Convex lens-shaped curved surface (end nearer to light emitting part)
31 Concave lens-shaped curved surface (end nearer to light emitting part)
40 Cylindrical light emitter (light emitting part)
41 Cuboid light emitter (light emitting part)
50 housing 50A upper housing (second housing)
50B Lower housing (first housing)
90 Reflective mirror 101 LD chip (laser light source)
102 Light emission point (laser light source)
110, 120, 130, 140 Light emitting device (lighting device, vehicle headlamp)
150, 160, 170, 180 Illumination device (light emitting device, vehicle headlamp)
201 Light incident surface (closer to laser light source)
202 Light irradiation surface (end closer to light emitting part, end closer to light emitting part)
203 frustoconical side (light reflecting side, go structure)
211 Bottom of the truncated cone (closer to the laser light source)
212 The top of the truncated cone (the end closer to the light emitting part, the end closer to the light emitting part)
213 frustum side (light reflecting side, go structure)
223 Sealing member side surface 231 Equidistant curved surface (closer to laser light source, one end of translucent member)
232 Top of elliptical frustum (end closer to light emitting part, end closer to light emitting part)
233 Oval frustum side (light reflecting side, go structure)
242 Sake bottle (one near the light emitter, the end near the light emitter)
243 Sake bottle side (light reflecting side, go structure)
251 The bottom of the truncated pyramid (closer to the laser light source)
252 Light irradiation surface (end closer to light emitting part, end closer to light emitting part)
253 Side of the truncated pyramid (light reflecting side, go structure)
410 Laser downlight (light emitting device, lighting device)
C Arc h Injection hole h1 Filling hole h2 Air hole h3 Translucent member forming hole L0, LA, LB Laser light LC Emitted light (laser light)
L1 Incoherent light (light)
S mold SA upper mold (mold)
SB Lower mold (mold)
O center (center of light emitting part)

Claims (9)

A laser light source for generating laser light;
A translucent member made of a material that transmits the laser light;
A light emitting unit that generates light by being irradiated with laser light generated from the laser light source and transmitted through the translucent member;
The translucent member has a surrounding structure surrounded by a light reflecting side surface that reflects the transmitted laser light, and guides the laser light to the vicinity of the light emitting unit by the surrounding structure. And the sectional area of the surrounding structure closer to the light emitting portion is smaller than the sectional area closer to the laser light source, and the light reflecting side surface is convex inward in the vicinity of the light emitting portion. It has a curved surface
The light-emitting device, wherein the laser light source, the translucent member, and the light-emitting portion are fixed integrally.   The light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the laser light source is sealed inside the translucent member.   The light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting unit is sealed inside the light transmissive member.   The said laser light source, the said translucent member, and the said light emission part are inserted | pinched between two housing | casing, and are being fixed integrally, The any one of Claim 1 to 3 characterized by the above-mentioned. Light emitting device. When there are a plurality of the laser light sources,
One end of the light transmissive member from claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a possible cross-sectional shapes placing each of the plurality of laser light sources equidistant from the center of the light-emitting portion 4 The light emitting device according to any one of the above.   The light-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein a concave lens-like curved surface having a concave surface with respect to the light-emitting portion is formed at an end portion of the translucent member that is closer to the light-emitting portion.   The light-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein a convex lens-like curved surface having a convex surface with respect to the light-emitting portion is formed at an end portion of the translucent member closer to the light-emitting portion. Lighting apparatus characterized by comprising a light emitting device according to any one of claims 1 to 7. A light emitting device according to any one of claims 1 to 7 ,
A vehicle headlamp comprising: a reflecting mirror that reflects light generated from the light emitting unit to form a light bundle that travels within a predetermined solid angle.

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