Laser beam irradiation apparatus and laser beam irradiation system

A laser beam irradiation system, comprising:

• a plurality of laser beam irradiation apparatuses;
• and
• a light-condensing optics system,
• wherein each of the plurality of laser beam irradiation apparatuses comprises:
• a plurality of laser devices emitting a plurality of first laser beams, respectively;
• a plurality of optical fibers each comprising an input end and an output end and outputting from the output end a corresponding one of the plurality of first laser beams received on the input end so that a beam diameter of the corresponding one of the plurality of first laser beams increases with a distance from the output end;
• and
• a collimating optics system comprising an incident face and an emitting face, receiving the plurality of first laser beams emitted from the plurality of optical fibers on the incident face as a plurality of input laser beams, and performing an optical operation to emit a plurality of second laser beams which are collimated beams, the second laser beams being associated with the first laser beams, respectively,
• wherein each of the plurality of the input laser beams overlaps at least one of the other first laser beams on the incident face of the collimating optics system, and
• wherein the collimating optics system is configured so that a distance between a center of each of the plurality of second laser beams and an optical axis of the collimating optics system is smaller than a beam radius of each of the second laser beams,
• wherein synthesized beams each composed of the plurality of the second laser beams emitted from each of the plurality of laser beam irradiation apparatuses are made incident on an incident face of the light-condensing optics system,
• wherein the light-condensing optics system is configured to perform an optical operation on the synthesized beams to emit third laser beams respectively associated with the synthesized beams, and
• wherein the light-condensing optics system is configured so that beam diameters of all the third laser beams emitted from the light-condensing optics system are minimal on a target face which is a plane defined to be orthogonal to an optical axis of the light-condensing optics system, and a distance between a center of each of the third laser beams and the optical axis on the target face is smaller than a beam radius of each of the third laser beams on the target face.

A laser beam irradiation system, comprising:

• a plurality of laser beam irradiation apparatuses;
• and
• a first collimating optics system,
• wherein each of the plurality of laser beam irradiation apparatuses comprises:
• a plurality of laser devices emitting a plurality of first laser beams, respectively;
• a plurality of optical fibers each comprising an input end and an output end and outputting from the output end a corresponding one of the plurality of first laser beams received on the input end so that a beam diameter of the corresponding one of the plurality of first laser beams increases with a distance from the output end;
• and
• a second collimating optics system comprising an incident face and an emitting face, receiving the plurality of first laser beams emitted from the plurality of optical fibers on the incident face as a plurality of input laser beams, and performing an optical operation to emit a plurality of second laser beams which are collimated beams, the second laser beams being associated with the first laser beams, respectively,
• wherein each of the plurality of the input laser beams overlaps at least one of the other first laser beams on the incident face of the second collimating optics system,
• wherein the second collimating optics system is configured so that a distance between a center of each of the plurality of second laser beams and an optical axis of the second collimating optics system is smaller than a beam radius of each of the second laser beams,
• wherein synthesized beams each composed of the plurality of the second laser beams emitted from each of the plurality of laser beam irradiation apparatuses are made incident on an incident face of the first collimating optics system, and
• wherein the first collimating optics system is configured to perform an optical operation on the synthesized beams to emit third laser beams which are collimated beams, the third laser beams being associated with the synthesized beams, respectively.