Apollo Instruments, Inc.

Other

Alice Z Gheen

Zhijiang Wang

Ying Wang

Gregory Gheen

In the present invention, methods and apparatus for making efficient cladding pumping fiber lasers is disclosed. In particular, new fiber cladding geometry and new method of coupling pumping laser into an optical fiber are disclosed. Both aspects of the present invention will facilitate the realization of high-efficiency and high-power fiber lasers. In the present invention, cladding boundary geometry structures that can prevent the formation of local modes are disclosed. Besides the cladding geometry, methods for efficient coupling of diode lasers into a laser fiber for high power injection are also disclosed. Essentially, the new methods make it possible to transmit diode laser beams for a long distance with substantially the same brightness. In other words, with the methods and apparatus disclosed, a laser beam from a laser diode array with collimating structures can be transmitted for a long distance while the beam spot dimension including beam divergence can be kept substantially unchanged even if the beam from said array is not substantially collimated. With the method taught in the present invention, laser diode array modules can be formed with laser diode arrays (LDA) with collimating structures and relay systems. Because of the brightness conservation nature of the modules, when a plurality of such modules (such as 3, 9 or more than 200 pieces) are combined, the beams from the arrays can be efficiently coupled into an optical fiber. Thus the pumping laser coupling method can be used for the construction of high-efficiency and high-power fiber lasers. Thus, the fiber lasers of this invention may comprise of a fiber laser core doped with active species, a symmetry-broken inner cladding or a multiple-imaging inner cladding surrounding said core, a plurality of brightness substantially-conserved laser diode array module for coupling the beam from said laser diode array module into said inner cladding.An apparatus for a high efficiency cladding pumping fiber laser component includes a laser fiber having a core doped with active species disposed along an axis. A symmetry-----

High power high efficiency cladding pumping fiber laser

In the present invention, methods and apparatus for making efficient cladding pumping fiber lasers is disclosed. In particular, new fiber cladding geometry and method of construct fiber lasers and amplifiers using the laser fibers of the current invention are disclosed. The aspects of the present invention will facilitate the realization of high-efficiency and high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers. In the present invention, cladding boundary geometry structures that can prevent the formation of local modes are disclosed. Thus the pumping laser coupling method can be used for the construction of high-efficiency fiber lasers. Thus, the fiber lasers of this invention may comprise a laser fiber with its core doped with active species, having an asymmetric and symmetry-broken inner cladding or a multiple-imaging inner cladding surrounding said core, a laser diode array, reflector means at both ends of said laser fiber, and coupling optical system disposed between said laser diode array and the aperture of said laser fiber for coupling the pump beam from said laser diode array through a reflector into said inner cladding.

Method and apparatus are disclosed for beam dividing and shaping, in which the beams from laser diode array are divided in a plurality of sections along the slow axis and the sections of beams are then recombined along their fast axis so that the Lagrange invariant of the resulting beam increased approximately by n-fold in fast axis and reduced approximately by n-fold in slow axis. With the inclusion of above apparatus in diode laser modules, the main objectives of constructing high-efficiency solid state lasers can be achieved. Thus, a high-efficiency diode-pumped solid state laser apparatus can be made, comprising a laser fiber, at least one laser diode array module, an imaging optical system, wherein said imaging optical system is disposed between said module and the aperture of said fiber and focuses the beam from said module onto the aperture of said laser fiber, and wherein said laser diode array module comprises at least one laser diode array, a collimating structure, a beam dividing/rearranging device and an optical relay system.

Optical coupling system for a high-power diode-pumped solid state laser

In the present invention, methods and apparatus for making efficient cladding pumping fiber lasers is disclosed. In particular, new fiber cladding geometry and new method of coupling pumping laser into an optical fiber are disclosed. Both aspects of the present invention will facilitate the realization of high-efficiency and high-power fiber lasers. In the present invention, cladding boundary geometry structures that can prevent the formation of local modes are disclosed. Besides the cladding geometry, methods for efficient coupling of diode lasers into a laser fiber for high power injection are also disclosed. Essentially, the new methods make it possible to transmit diode laser beams for a long distance with substantially the same brightness. In other words, with the methods and apparatus disclosed, a laser beam from a laser diode array with collimating structures can be transmitted for a long distance while the beam spot dimension including beam divergence can be kept substantially unchanged even if the beam from said array is not substantially collimated. With the method taught in the present invention, laser diode array modules can be formed with laser diode arrays (LDA) with collimating structures and relay systems. Because of the brightness conservation nature of the modules, when a plurality of such modules (such as 3, 9 or more than 200 pieces) are combined, the beams from the arrays can be efficiently coupled into an optical fiber. Thus the pumping laser coupling method can be used for the construction of high-efficiency and high-power fiber lasers. Thus, the fiber lasers of this invention may comprise of a fiber laser core doped with active species, a symmetry-broken inner cladding or a multiple-imaging inner cladding surrounding said core, a plurality of brightness substantially-conserved laser diode array module for coupling the beam from said laser diode array module into said inner cladding.

A photolithography method copies a pattern plane onto a working plane by a rotating imaging system. The pattern plane is parallel to the working plane. At a given instance, the imaging system images a small region of the pattern plane to the working plane. The imaging system rotates around a fixed axis perpendicular to the pattern plane and on each pass copies a circular arc shaped region from the pattern plane to the working plane. Synchronized translation of the pattern plane and working plane in conjunction with rotation of the imaging system allows the entire pattern plane to be copied to the working plane. The photolithography method can achieve high resolution over a large field-of-view with high write speed and can include an autofocus system to account for variation in the flatness of the working plane. This photolithography method can be used in the visible, UV, IR or x-ray wavebands.

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Irvine, CA, United States of America

Alice Z Gheen