System and method for manufacturing all-fiber side-pump combiners with plurality of pumps

An apparatus, comprising:

• an all-fiber side-pump combiner fabrication system configured to receive a fiber group comprising a signal fiber and a plurality of pump fibers;
• and
• a control unit coupled to control operations of the all-fiber side-pump combiner fabrication system to process the fiber group to produce a (N+1)×1 combiner with N side pump fibers,
• wherein N is a positive integer,
• wherein, in controlling the operations of the side-pump combiner fabrication system, the control unit controls the side-pump combiner fabrication system with respect to at least one of a mechanical positioning, a mechanical motion, a mechanical speed, a heating temperature, a dynamic heating-zone scanning pattern and speed, a fiber tension, and a fabrication recipe,
• wherein the all-fiber side-pump combiner fabrication system comprises first and second pump-fiber clamping fixtures, each of the first and second pump-fiber clamping fixtures loaded with the plurality of pump fibers to form a pump-fiber array, each of first and second pump-fiber clamping fixtures mounted on a respective one of first and second sliding modules such that a central longitudinal axis of each of the first and second pump-fiber clamping fixtures is aligned with a system axis of the side-pump combiner fabrication system and that each of the first and second pump-fiber clamping fixtures is slidingly movable in directions along the system axis with a closed-loop tension control on the clamped pump-fiber array,
• wherein each of the first and second pump-fiber clamping fixtures comprises a sleeve and a shaft surrounded by and rotatably received in the sleeve, the shaft comprising (i) a signal-fiber slot for the signal fiber to pass through at the central longitudinal axis and (ii) a plurality of pump-fiber slots for receiving and clamping the pump fibers of the pump-fiber array at positions circumferentially surrounding the signal fiber.