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US 10,095,016 B2Granted
High power laser system
AssigneenLIGHT, Inc.
InventorsScott R. Karlsen, Robert J. Martinsen, Keith W. Kennedy
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A laser system capable of producing a stable and accurate high-power output beam from one or more input beams of corresponding laser sources comprises one or more optical elements configured to receive the input beams wherein at least one of said one or more optical elements is made of high purity fused silica.
Claims27
A laser system, comprising:
- one or more fiber-coupled laser sources situated to produce one or more input beams having a power of at least 500 W and respective wavelengths that are offset from OH— wavelength absorption peaks;
- a cylindrical lens situated to receive the input beams and to telecentrically direct the input beams;
- and
- a light pipe situated to receive the telecentrically directed input beams from the cylindrical lens and to produce an output beam having a wavelength spectrum corresponding to the respective wavelengths of the one or more input beams;
- wherein one or both of said cylindrical lens and said light pipe are made of high purity fused silica having an OH− concentration of less than or equal to 10 ppm and a trace impurity concentration of less than or equal to 0.05 ppm so as to produce an output beam and so as to reduce a focal variability of a focus position of the output beam associated with thermal lensing of the one or more input beams to less than or equal to 50 μm in the direction of propagation of the output beam at the focus position.
2 more elements
A laser system, comprising:
- a plurality of fiber coupled laser sources situated to emit corresponding laser beams having respective wavelengths that are offset from OH— wavelength absorption bands;
- a cylindrical lens situated to receive the laser beams and to telecentrically direct the laser beams;
- and
- a light pipe situated to receive the telecentrically directed laser beams from said cylindrical lens and to homogenize the laser beams propagating therethrough so as to produce a homogenized output beam having the respective wavelengths of the laser beams, said cylindrical lens being composed of high purity fused silica having an OH− concentration of less than or equal to 10 ppm and a trace impurity concentration of less than or equal to 0.05 ppm so as to reduce a focal plane position variation of the homogenized output beam that is associated with thermal lensing of the laser beams to less than or equal to 50 μm in the propagation direction at a selected focal position of the homogenized output beam.
1 more element
A beam homogenizing system, comprising:
- a plurality of fiber coupled laser sources situated to produce corresponding laser beams having respective wavelengths that are offset from OH— wavelength absorption bands;
- a light pipe situated to receive and to homogenize the laser beams across at least one axis perpendicular to the direction of propagation thereof so as to form a homogenized output beam that is homogenized across the at least one axis and that has a wavelength spectrum corresponding to the respective wavelengths of the laser beams;
- and
- a cylindrical lens situated to receive and direct the laser beams telecentrically into said light pipe;
- wherein said light pipe and said cylindrical lens are each made of high purity fused silica with an OH− concentration of less than or equal to 10 ppm and a trace impurity concentration of less than or equal to 0.05 ppm so as to reduce variability of a focus position of the homogenized output beam at a focal plane of the beam homogenizing system to less than or equal to 50 μm in the direction of propagation of the homogenized output beam.
2 more elements
A laser-based materials processing system, comprising:
- a laser intensity homogenizer that includes a plurality of fiber coupled light sources each situated to emit a fiber output beam having a respective wavelength that is offset from OH— wavelength absorption bands, a light pipe made of high purity fused silica with an OH− concentration of less than or equal to 10 ppm and a trace impurity concentration of less than or equal to 0.05 ppm and having an input end and output end, and a telecentric optical system situated to direct the fiber output beams telecentrically into said light pipe input end so as to produce a system output beam exiting said light pipe output end that is substantially homogenized along at least one axis perpendicular to the direction of propagation thereof and that has a wavelength spectrum corresponding to the respective wavelengths of the fiber output beams;
- wherein a variation of a focus position of the system output beam is reduced to 50 μm or less along an output beam direction of propagation at least partially based on the composition of the high purity fused silica of the light pipe.
An apparatus, comprising:
- a plurality of fiber-coupled laser sources situated to produce respective input beams with a power of at least 500 W;
- a cylindrical lens situated to receive the input beams and to telecentrically direct the input beams;
- and
- a light pipe situated to receive the telecentrically directed input beams from the cylindrical lens and to produce a homogenized output beam;
- wherein the cylindrical lens is composed of high purity fused silica having an OH− concentration of less than or equal to 10 ppm and a trace impurity concentration of less than or equal to 0.05 ppm so as to reduce a focal variability of a focus position of the homogenized output beam associated with thermal lensing of the input beams to less than or equal to 50 μm in the direction of propagation of the homogenized output beam at the focus position.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.