Lumentum Operations LLC

Alex Hatcher

Martin H Muendel

Richard D Faulhaber

Patrick Gregg

James J Morehead

John Peck

An in-fiber beam scanning system may comprise an input fiber to provide a beam, a feeding fiber comprising an imaging bundle with multiple cores embedded in a first cladding that is surrounded by a second cladding, and an in-fiber beam shifter that comprises a first multibend beam shifter coupled to the input fiber, a graded index fiber following the first multibend beam shifter, and a second multibend beam shifter following the graded index fiber and coupling into the feeding fiber. In some implementations, the first multibend beam shifter is actuated by a first amount and the second multibend beam shifter is actuated by a second amount to shift the beam in two dimensions and deliver the beam into one or more target cores in the imaging bundle.

In-fiber beam scanning

A graded index fiber having a refractive index profile that causes a beam to be re-imaged in the graded index fiber with a regular period may include a set of bends that have a bend period matched to or nearly matched to a pitch of the graded index fiber. For example, the set of bends may be formed in the graded index fiber using one or more bending devices that include one or more protrusions that have a periodicity matched to or nearly matched to a pitch of the graded index fiber. A first section of the one or more bending devices may be actuated to move towards a second section of the one or more bending devices such that the one or more protrusions cause the bends to be formed in the graded index fiber.

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Alex Hatcher