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US 12,460,992 B1Granted
Methods of multi-core fiber alignment
AssigneeAlcon Inc.
InventorsBruno Lassalas, Ronald T. Smith, Chenguang Diao, Alireza Mirsepassi
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Abstract
Particular embodiments disclosed herein provide methods and systems for aligning multi-core fibers with multi-spot laser beam patterns of laser surgical systems. In particular, certain aspects provide techniques for aligning a rotational angle, or “clocking” angle, of a multi-core fiber with a fixed multi-spot laser beam pattern of a laser system utilizing digital imaging and analysis.
Claims19
A method of aligning a multi-core fiber of a laser device, comprising:
- projecting a laser beam corresponding to a multi-spot laser beam pattern from a laser source onto a sensor;
- projecting a light beam corresponding to a multi-core pattern of the multi-core fiber onto the sensor;
- identifying a rotational misalignment between the multi-spot laser beam pattern and the multi-core pattern;
- and
- rotating the multi-core fiber based on the identifying to align the multi-spot laser beam pattern and the multi-core pattern;
- wherein identifying the rotational misalignment further comprises:
- locating a center point for each of two imaged cores of the multi-core pattern;
- determining a first axis intersecting the center points of the two imaged cores;
- locating a center point for each of two imaged spots of the multi-spot laser beam;
- determining a second axis intersecting the center points of the two imaged spots;
- and
- determining an angle between the first axis and the second axis, the angle corresponding to the rotational misalignment between the multi-spot laser beam pattern and the multi-core pattern.
9 more elements
A method of aligning a multi-core fiber of a laser device, comprising:
- projecting a laser beam corresponding to a multi-spot laser beam pattern from a laser source onto a sensor;
- projecting a light beam corresponding to a multi-core pattern of the multi-core fiber onto the sensor;
- identifying a rotational misalignment between the multi-spot laser beam pattern and the multi-core pattern;
- and
- rotating the multi-core fiber based on the identifying to align the multi-spot laser beam pattern and the multi-core pattern;
- aligning the multi-core fiber with a device adaptor for coupling the multi-core fiber to the laser device, comprising:
- attaching the device adaptor to a port of the laser device, the device adaptor rotationally connected to the multi-core fiber at a proximal end of the multi-core fiber;
- imaging the multi-core pattern of the multi-core fiber onto the sensor;
- locating a center point for each of two imaged cores of the multi-core pattern;
- determining a first axis intersecting the center points of the two imaged cores;
- determining an angle between the first axis and a reference axis corresponding to the device adaptor;
- and
- rotating the multi-core fiber to align the first axis and the reference axis.
10 more elements
A method of aligning a multi-core fiber with a multi-spot laser source of a device, comprising:
- transmitting a laser beam from the multi-spot laser source through a diffractive optical element to form a multi-spot laser beam;
- deflecting the multi-spot laser beam onto a proximal endface of the multi-core fiber;
- reflecting a first portion of the multi-spot laser beam from the proximal endface of the multi-core fiber, the reflected first portion forming a multi-spot laser beam pattern corresponding to the multi-spot laser beam;
- reflecting a second portion of the multi-spot laser beam from a distal endface of the multi-core fiber, the reflected second portion forming a multi-core pattern corresponding to the cores of the multi-core fiber;
- transmitting the multi-spot laser beam pattern and the multi-core pattern to a sensor;
- identifying a rotational misalignment between the multi-spot laser beam pattern and the multi-core pattern;
- determining a degree of rotation of the multi-core fiber to align the multi-spot laser beam pattern and the multi-core pattern;
- and
- rotating the multi-core fiber to rotationally align the multi-spot laser beam pattern and the multi-core pattern.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.