Lumentum Operations LLC

Vincent Petit

Martin H Muendel

James J Morehead

Richard D Faulhaber

Patrick Gregg

Simonette Pierrot

James Lefort

Kyle R Schneider

An optical fiber may comprise a core doped with one or more active ions to guide signal light from an input end of the optical fiber to an output end of the optical fiber, a cladding surrounding the core to guide pump light from the input end of the optical fiber to the output end of the optical fiber, and one or more inserts formed in the cladding surrounding the core. The core may have a geometry (e.g., a cross-sectional size, a helical pitch, and/or the like) that varies along a longitudinal length of the optical fiber, which may cause an absorption of the pump light to be modulated along the longitudinal length of the optical fiber.

Optical fiber with variable absorption

An optical fiber device may include a core including a primary section and a secondary section. The secondary section may include at least one insert element inserted within the primary section at an off-center location with respect to a center of the primary section. The secondary section may twist about an axis of the optical fiber device along a length of the optical fiber device. A rate of twist at which the secondary section twists about the axis may increase from a first end of the optical fiber device toward a second end of the optical fiber device. The secondary section being twisted about the axis may cause an optical beam, launched at the first end of the optical fiber device, to be at least partially converted to a rotary optical beam at the second end of the optical fiber device.

Rotary optical beam generator

An optical fiber may include a first core, a second core, and a cladding surrounding the first core and the second core. The second core may be at an off-center location with respect to a center of the optical fiber, or the second core may include an azimuthally nonuniform section at the off-center location. The second core may twist about an axis of the optical fiber along a length of the optical fiber, and the second core being twisted about the axis may cause an optical beam, launched into the second core at a first end of the optical fiber, to be at least partially converted to a rotary optical beam at a second end of the optical fiber.

Optical fiber for generating rotary optical beams

An optical fiber may comprise a core doped with one or more active ions to guide signal light from an input end of the optical fiber to an output end of the optical fiber, a cladding surrounding the core to guide pump light from the input end of the optical fiber to the output end of the optical fiber, and one or more inserts formed in the cladding surrounding the core. Each of the one or more inserts may have a geometry (e.g., a cross-sectional size, a helical pitch, and/or the like) that varies along a longitudinal length of the optical fiber, which may cause an absorption of the pump light to be modulated along the longitudinal length of the optical fiber.

A method may include performing an active alignment to enable optical coupling between a first optical fiber and a second optical fiber via an imaging structure. An end of the first optical fiber may be at a first location on a first surface of the imaging structure. The first location may be a first transverse offset distance from an axis of the imaging structure. An end of the second optical fiber may be at a second location of the first surface of the imaging structure. The second location may be a second transverse offset distance from the axis of the imaging structure. The method may include fusion splicing the end of the first optical fiber at the first location on the first surface of the imaging structure, and fusion splicing the end of the second optical fiber at the second location on the first surface of the imaging structure.

Fiber coupler

A device may splice, at a target splice point, a first end of a twisted fiber having a non-concentric core to an input end of a target fiber having a concentric core to form a spliced fiber wherein the concentric core of the target fiber and the non-concentric core of the twisted fiber have a particular offset at the target splice point. The device may taper at least a portion of the twisted fiber to form a tapered region of the spliced fiber and such that the particular offset at the target splice point corresponds to a pre-configured core offset wherein the target splice point is within the tapered region of the spliced fiber.

Tapered non-concentric core fibers

An optical fiber device may include a unitary core including a primary section and a secondary section, wherein at least a portion of the secondary section is offset from a center of the unitary core, wherein the unitary core twists about an axis of the optical fiber device along a length of the optical fiber device, and wherein a refractive index of the primary section is greater than a refractive index of the secondary section; and a cladding surrounding the unitary core.

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Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Vincent Petit