The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 02, 2020
Filed:
Mar. 28, 2018
Dahv A. V. Kliner, Vancouver, WA (US);
Brian Victor, Vancouver, WA (US);
Lynn Sheehan, Vancouver, WA (US);
Aaron Brown, Vancouver, WA (US);
Dahv A. V. Kliner, Vancouver, WA (US);
Brian Victor, Vancouver, WA (US);
Lynn Sheehan, Vancouver, WA (US);
Aaron Brown, Vancouver, WA (US);
NLIGHT, INC., Vancouver, WA (US);
Abstract
Methods, apparatus, and systems comprising a fiber-coupled laser and time-varying beam characteristics. A laser may generate an optical beam that is launched into one or more lengths of fiber, at least one of which comprises a confinement region that is optically coupled to an output. A perturbation device may modulate, through action upon the one or more lengths of fiber, a beam characteristic over a time period during which the laser is energized. A controller may cause the perturbation device to act upon the one or more lengths of fiber to impart a time-averaged beam characteristic and/or to induce a continuous variation in one or more beam characteristics during system use. A process monitor may sense a metric external to the optical system, and a feedback signal from the process monitor may be coupled into the controller. Dynamic beam characteristics may be modulated based on the feedback signal.