Method and apparatus for combining laser light

A fiber optic apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of optical fibers, each optical fiber having a first end and a second end, said plurality of fibers being fused together along a section of each optical fiber proximate the first end of each optical fiber to form a fused section having a fiber axis, the fused section of the plurality of optical fibers being tapered to form a tapered region;
• and
• a facet, said facet being formed by cutting and polishing or by cleaving said tapered region;
• wherein the plurality of optical fibers disposed in the fused section are stretched to provide a desired amount of optical coupling between each optical fiber;
• wherein the facet is adapted to receive a single optical input traveling in free space, the fibers having each a core and a cladding and a mode shape, the sum of the mode shapes of the fibers being calculated, and the core/cladding size ratio and stretch being selected, to maximize coupling of the free space beam into the core ensemble;
• the single optical input being distributed amongst each optical fiber in the plurality of optical fibers.

A fiber optic apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of single mode silica optical fibers, each optical fiber having a first end and a second end, said plurality of fibers being fused together along a section of each optical fiber proximate the first end of each optical fiber to form a fused section having a fiber axis, the fused section of the plurality of optical fibers being tapered to form a tapered region;
• and
• a facet, said facet being formed by cutting and polishing or by cleaving said tapered region in a direction perpendicular to said fiber axis;
• wherein said facet has a cross section other than approximately equal to the cross section of an individual single-mode fiber.

A fiber optic apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of optical fibers, each optical fiber having a first end and a second end, said plurality of fibers being fused together along a section of each optical fiber proximate the first end of each optical fiber to form a fused section having a fiber axis, the fused section of the plurality of optical fibers being tapered to form a tapered region;
• and
• a facet, said facet being formed by cutting and polishing or by cleaving said tapered region;
• wherein the plurality of optical fibers disposed in the fused section are stretched to provide a desired amount of optical coupling between each optical fiber;
• and wherein each optical fiber is adapted to receive an optical input from a plurality of optical inputs at the second end, and wherein the plurality of optical inputs are emitted into free space at the facet as a single combined optical output.

A method for coupling light comprising:

• providing a plurality of optical fibers, each optical fiber having a first end, a second end, and a central core extending between the first and second end;
• fusing the optical fibers together along a section of each optical fiber proximate the first end to form a fused section;
• tapering the fused section of the optical fibers such that a core diameter of each optical fiber proximate the first end is smaller than the core diameter proximate the second end, wherein tapering the fused section comprises uniformly stretching the plurality of optical fibers to provide a desired amount of optical coupling between each optical fiber;
• forming a facet by cutting and polishing or by cleaving said fused section in a direction perpendicular to the core;
• and
• illuminating the facet with the light, wherein said illuminating further comprises:
• illuminating the facet with a single optical input traveling in free space;
• and
• distributing the single optical input amongst each optical fiber in the plurality of optical fibers to provide a plurality of distributed optical outputs.

A method for coupling light comprising:

• providing a plurality of optical fibers, each optical fiber having a first end, a second end, and a central core extending between the first and second end;
• fusing the optical fibers together along a section of each optical fiber proximate the first end to form a fused section;
• tapering the fused section of the optical fibers such that a core diameter of each optical fiber proximate the first end is smaller than the core diameter proximate the second end, wherein tapering the fused section comprises uniformly stretching the plurality of optical fibers to provide a desired amount of optical coupling between each optical fiber;
• forming a facet by cutting and polishing or by cleaving said fused section in a direction perpendicular to the core;
• and
• illuminating the facet with the light, wherein said illuminating further comprises:
• providing an optical input at the second end of each optical fiber;
• and
• emitting the optical inputs as a single combined optical output at the facet into free space.

An apparatus for coupling light comprising:

• a plurality of single mode optical fibers, each optical fiber having a first end and a second end, said plurality of fibers being fused together along a section of each optical fiber proximate the first end of each optical fiber to form a fused section having a fiber axis, the fused section of the plurality of optical fibers being tapered to form a tapered region;
• and
• a facet, said facet being formed by cutting and polishing or by cleaving the tapered region in a direction perpendicular to said fiber axis, wherein the facet is adapted to receive a single optical input, the single optical input being distributed amongst each optical fiber in the plurality of optical fibers, wherein the optical input has a diameter, and wherein the diameter of the optical input at the first end of a given optical fiber is larger than the diameter of the same optical input at the second end of the given optical fiber;
• said facet having a cross section other than approximately equal to the cross section of an individual single-mode fiber.