Method of laser modification of an optical fibre
AssigneeOxford University Innovation Limited
InventorsJulian Fells, Martin Booth, Patrick Salter
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Abstract
Method of laser modifying an optical fibre to form a modified region at a target location within the fibre, comprising positioning at least a portion of an optical fibre in a laser system for modification by a laser, applying a correction to an active optical element of the laser system to modify wavefront properties of the laser to counteract an effect of aberration on laser focus, and laser modifying the optical fibre at the target location using the laser with the corrected wavefront properties to produce the modified region.
Claims21
A method of laser modifying an optical fibre to form a modified region at a target location within the fibre, comprising:
- positioning at least a portion of an optical fibre in a laser system for modification by a laser;
- determining a correction to be applied to an active optical element of the laser system based at least upon characteristics of the optical fibre;
- applying the correction to the active optical element of the laser system to modify wavefront properties of the laser to counteract an effect of aberration of the fibre on laser focus, wherein applying the correction to the active optical element comprises applying the correction to the active optical element to modify wavefront properties of the laser to counteract an effect of spherical aberration on laser focus or of coma on laser focus or both spherical aberration and coma on laser focus;
- and
- laser modifying the optical fibre at the target location using the laser with the corrected wavefront properties to produce the modified region.
A method of laser modifying an optical fibre to form a modified region at a target location within the fibre, comprising:
- positioning at least a portion of an optical fibre in a laser system for modification by a laser;
- determining a correction to be applied to an active optical element of the laser system based at least upon characteristics of the optical fibre;
- applying the correction to the active optical element of the laser system to modify wavefront properties of the laser to counteract an effect of aberration of the fibre on laser focus;
- and
- laser modifying the optical fibre at the target location using the laser with the corrected wavefront properties to produce the modified region;
- wherein the focus of the corrected laser has a Strehl ratio of at least 0.5.
A method of laser modifying an optical fibre to form a modified region at a target location within the fibre, comprising:
- positioning at least a portion of an optical fibre in a laser system for modification by a laser;
- determining a correction to be applied to an active optical element of the laser system based at least upon characteristics of the optical fibre;
- applying the correction to the active optical element of the laser system to modify wavefront properties of the laser to counteract an effect of aberration of the fibre on laser focus;
- laser modifying the optical fibre at the target location using the laser with the corrected wavefront properties to produce the modified region;
- measuring the laser focus within the optical fibre and determining the correction based at least upon that measurement.
A method of laser modifying an optical fibre to form a modified region at a target location within the fibre, comprising:
- positioning at least a portion of an optical fibre in a laser system for modification by a laser;
- determining a correction to be applied to an active optical element of the laser system based at least upon characteristics of the optical fibre;
- applying the correction to the active optical element of the laser system to modify wavefront properties of the laser to counteract an effect of aberration of the fibre on laser focus;
- and
- laser modifying the optical fibre at the target location using the laser with the corrected wavefront properties to produce the modified region;
- wherein producing the modified region comprises forming at least a section of an optical core of the fibre;
- and/or wherein the method comprises forming a plurality of sections of optical cores.
A method of laser modifying an optical fibre to form a modified region at a target location within the fibre, comprising:
- positioning at least a portion of an optical fibre in a laser system for modification by a laser;
- determining a correction to be applied to an active optical element of the laser system based at least upon characteristics of the optical fibre;
- applying the correction to the active optical element of the laser system to modify wavefront properties of the laser to counteract an effect of aberration of the fibre on laser focus;
- laser modifying the optical fibre at the target location using the laser with the corrected wavefront properties to produce the modified region;
- and
- forming the modified region within an optical core of the optical fibre.
A method of laser modifying an optical fibre to form a modified region at a target location within the fibre, comprising:
- positioning at least a portion of an optical fibre in a laser system for modification by a laser;
- determining a correction to be applied to an active optical element of the laser system based at least upon characteristics of the optical fibre;
- applying the correction to the active optical element of the laser system to modify wavefront properties of the laser to counteract an effect of aberration of the fibre on laser focus:
- laser modifying the optical fibre at the target location using the laser with the corrected wavefront properties to produce the modified region;
- and
- forming a single-mode sapphire optical fibre.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.