Laser welded glass article and method of manufacturing the same using a welding emission with beam waist separated from interface between glass components to be laser welded

A fiber preform comprising:

• a first preform end, a second preform end, and a longitudinal axis extending from the first preform end to the second preform end;
• an outer preform cladding through which the fiber longitudinal axis extends, the outer preform cladding comprising an inner cladding surface facing and disposed radially around the longitudinal axis;
• inner preform tubes coupled to the outer preform cladding at the inner cladding surface of the outer preform cladding, each of the inner preform tubes comprising (i) a tube axis extending therethrough parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fiber preform, (ii) an inner tube surface extending radially around the tube axis, and (iii) an outer tube surface facing away from the tube axis, and wherein the inner preform tubes collectively define a preform core that extends radially from the longitudinal axis and is tangential to the outer tube surface of each of the inner preform tubes;
• and
• first laser weld volumes, each of the first laser weld volumes fusing a different one of the inner preform tubes to the outer preform cladding,
• wherein, each of the first laser weld volumes comprises an hourglass, vortex, or conical perimeter.

A method of manufacturing a laser welded glass article comprising:

• a workpiece positioning step comprising positioning a glass workpiece in an intended beam path of a welding emission from a laser, the glass workpiece comprising multiple glass components including at least a first glass component and a second glass component, the first glass component positioned to encounter the welding emission along the intended beam path before the second glass component, and
• a laser welding step comprising causing the laser to emit the welding emission along the intended beam path,
• wherein, the welding emission converges to a beam waist,
• wherein, the welding emission causes one or both of the first glass component or the second glass component to increase in temperature and to decrease in viscosity so as to flow and fuse the first glass component and the second glass component together throughout a laser weld volume, and
• wherein, the beam waist is not coextensive with the laser weld volume.