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US 10,690,854 B2Granted
Rotary optical beam generator
AssigneeLumentum Operations LLC
InventorsMartin H. Muendel, James J. Morehead
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An optical fiber device may include a unitary core including a primary section and a secondary section, wherein at least a portion of the secondary section is offset from a center of the unitary core, wherein the unitary core twists about an optical axis of the optical fiber device along a length of the optical fiber device, and wherein a refractive index of the primary section is greater than a refractive index of the secondary section; and a cladding surrounding the unitary core.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- fabricating a rotator fiber preform having a unitary core with a refractive index structure that angularly varies with respect to a center of the rotator fiber preform;
- consolidating the rotator fiber preform in order to create a consolidated rotator fiber preform;
- concurrently drawing and spinning the consolidated rotator fiber preform in order to create a spun rotator fiber;
- and
- tapering the spun rotator fiber in order to create a tapered spun rotator fiber,
- wherein, within the tapered spun rotator fiber, the unitary core rotates about an optical axis of the tapered spun rotator fiber along a length of the tapered spun rotator fiber, and
- wherein a rate of twist at which the unitary core twists about the optical axis increases from a first rate of twist at a first end of the tapered spun rotator fiber to a second rate of twist at a second end of the tapered spun rotator fiber.
4 more elements
A method, comprising:
- fabricating a rotator fiber preform including a unitary core with a refractive index structure that angularly varies with respect to a center of the rotator fiber preform;
- consolidating the rotator fiber preform in order to create a consolidated rotator fiber preform;
- drawing the consolidated rotator fiber preform in order to create a drawn rotator fiber;
- and
- twisting the drawn rotator fiber in order to create a twisted rotator fiber,
- wherein, within the twisted rotator fiber, the unitary core rotates about an optical axis of the twisted rotator fiber along a length of the twisted rotator fiber, and
- wherein a rate of twist at which the unitary core twists about the optical axis increases from a first rate of twist at a first end of the twisted rotator fiber to a second rate of twist at a second end of the twisted rotator fiber.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.