General Electric Company

Gregory Georgalas

Marshall Gordon Jones

Angel L Ortiz, Jr

John L August, Jr

Tushar S Chande

An optical fiber holder includes a pair of flat, adjacent surfaces. Each of the surfaces includes a straight groove, the grooves opposing so as to form a passage shaped to engage an optical fiber in a snug fit. Means are provided for fastening the two surfaces together. The optical fiber holder is preferably constructed of material transparent to a laser beam at a predetermined wavelength, thereby making the optical fiber holder particularly adapted for use with a laser device generating such a laser beam.

Optical fiber holder

Pulse laser energy in the near infrared and visible spectrum is passed through a single fiber optic at power levels required for material and metal processing. A neodymium-YAG laser used in pulsed mode is coupled to the end of a quartz fiber optic which transmits peak powers in the kilowatt range. In order to transmit higher amounts of average power, a prepared fiber end allows beam coupling through core-air and core-cladding zones. The beam at the output of the fiber optic is focused to achieve power densities capable of cutting, drilling, and welding of metals etc. The main advantage is greater flexibility of laser beam manipulation.

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Schenectady, NY, United States of America

Gregory Georgalas