Fiber beam shaper
AssigneeIpg Photonics Corporation
InventorsLeonid KLEBANOV, Luis Alberto CEPEDA, Mikhail MELESHKEVICH
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Abstract
A beam shaper includes upstream and downstream fibers fused together at a splice angle different from a zero angle and controllably increased to provide a transformation of a Gaussian intensity distribution profile at an input of the upstream fiber to an intensity distribution profile including one of flattop, inverse Gaussian and donut-shaped profiles at an output of the downstream fiber. The fibers are selected from SM, MM passive and active fibers with the downstream fiber being a multimode fiber.
Claims19
A beam shaper comprising upstream and downstream fibers fused at a splice angle which is different from a zero angle and selected to provide a transformation of a Gaussian intensity distribution profile at an input of the upstream fiber to an intensity distribution profile different from the Gaussian at an output of the downstream fiber.
A master oscillator power fiber amplifier (MOPFA) system comprising
- a master oscillator (MO) outputting at a SM beam with a Gaussian intensity distribution profile via an output SM fiber;
- and
- a power fiber amplifier configured with an active MM fiber, wherein the output SM fiber and active MM fiber are coupled at a splice angle which is different from a zero angle and selected to provide a transformation of the Gaussian intensity distribution profile to an intensity distribution profile different from the Gaussian at an output of the power fiber amplifier.
A fiber holding assembly of a fusion splicer for coupling upstream and downstream fibers into a beam shaper, comprising:
- two fiber holders receiving respective upstream and downstream fibers and mounted to pivot relative to one another about respective parallel axes so as to provide a desired splice angle between the upstream and downstream fibers, and
- a control unit operative to controllably increase the splice angle so as to provide a gradual transformation of a Gaussian intensity distribution profile at an input of the upstream fiber to sequential standard flattop, inverse Gaussian and donut-shaped intensity distribution profiles at an output of the downstream fiber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.