The University of Southampton

Trumpf Laser Uk. Limited

Andrew Malinowski

Malcolm Paul Varnham

David John Richardson

Morten Ibsen

Mikhail Nickolaos Zervas

Lars Johan Albinsson Nilsson

Christophe Andre Codemard

Iain Botheroyd

Laurent LeFort

Jonathan Hugh Vaughan Price

Stephen John Keen

Apparatus for laser processing a material (), comprising a laser (), an optical fibre (), and a coupler (), wherein: the laser () is connected to the optical fibre (); the optical fibre () is a multimode optical fibre having a first optical mode () having a first mode order (), a second optical mode () having a second mode order (), and a third optical mode () having a third mode order (); the third mode order () is higher than the second mode order () which is higher than the first mode order (); the coupler () switches laser radiation propagating in the first optical mode () to laser radiation propagating in the second optical mode (); and the coupler () switches the laser radiation propagating in the second optical mode () to laser radiation propagating in the third optical mode ().

Apparatus and method for laser processing a material

An apparatus for laser processing a material including an optical fibre, at least one squeezing mechanism, and a lens. The optical fibre is a multimode optical fibre in which laser radiation propagates in a first optical mode and in a second optical mode. The squeezing mechanism includes at least one periodic surface defined by a pitch. The periodic surface is located adjacent to the optical fibre. The pitch couples the first and second optical modes together. The first optical mode is defined by a first mode order. The second optical mode is defined by a second mode order which is higher than the first mode order. The squeezing mechanism squeezes the periodic surface and optical fibre together with a squeezing force thereby coupling the first optical mode to the second optical mode.

A source of pulses of coherent radiation at a wavelength of approximately 1 &#x3bc;m, comprises a pump source for producing pump light; a laser cavity comprising an Yb-doped gain medium arranged to receive the pump light, the laser cavity being modelocked to generate laser pulses at a defined repetition rate; a pulse detector arranged to generate a pulse selection signal indicative of the repetition rate; a pulse selector arranged to reduce the repetition rate of the laser pulses responsive to the pulse selection signal from the pulse detector by passing only selected ones of the laser pulses; and at least one optical amplifier for amplifying the laser pulses of reduced repetition rate. The at least one optical amplifier can be configured for chirped or parabolic pulse amplification.

Pulsed light sources

A source of pulses of coherent radiation at a wavelength of approximately 1 &#x3bc;m, comprises a pump source for producing pump light, a laser cavity comprising an Yb-doped gain medium arranged to receive the pump light, the laser cavity being modelocked to generate laser pulses at a defined repetition rate; a pulse detector arranged to generate a pulse selection signal indicative of the repetition rate; a pulse selector arranged to reduce the repetition rate of the laser pulses responsive to the pulse selection signal from the pulse detector by passing only selected ones of the laser pulses; and at least one optical amplifier for amplifying the laser pulses of reduced repetition rate. The at least one optical amplifier can be configured for chirped or parabolic pulse amplification.

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Southampton, United Kingdom

Andrew Malinowski