Optical fiber beam combiner and manufacturing method thereof

Abstract

The invention relates to an optical fiber combiner and a manufacturing method thereof, the optical fiber combiner comprises a plurality of optical fiber assemblies and a quartz tube assembly, each optical fiber assembly is internally provided with an etching unit, and the quartz tube assembly comprises a quartz tube body and two guide units. The two guide units are arranged on the two sides of the quartz tube body respectively and extend inwards in a sunken mode from the surfaces of the two sides of the quartz tube body, and the multiple optical fiber assemblies are suitable for being axially and symmetrically installed in the quartz tube assembly.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of optical fiber devices and laser transmission technology, and in particular to an optical fiber combiner and a manufacturing method thereof. Background Art

[0002] Fiber combiners are an indispensable core component in high-power laser transmission systems. Their main function is to combine the light beams transmitted in multiple optical fibers into one output fiber to achieve high-power, high-beam-quality laser output. However, the existing technology has the following prominent problems in high-power laser applications.

[0003] First, the thermal effect of cladding light accumulation. During high-power fiber laser transmission, part of the light beam fails to be completely confined in the fiber core and enters the cladding. The accumulation of cladding light can easily cause thermal effects, leading to local overheating of the fiber and even burning of the combiner. In high-power laser systems, 450nm blue lasers have higher energy density during transmission due to their short wavelength characteristics, which can easily cause local overheating and material fatigue of the fiber. At the same time, the loss rate of short-wavelength lasers on guide structures and optical surfaces is significantly higher than that of traditional infrared lasers (such as 1064nm), and the requirements for the accuracy of fiber arrangement and thermal management are more stringent.

[0004] Second, the axial accuracy of the fiber arrangement is insufficient. In the traditional fiber bundle arrangement method, the alignment accuracy of the fiber bundle and the quartz tube is often limited by the design of the guide structure, and it is difficult to achieve all-round precision alignment in the high-density arrangement of multiple fiber bundles. In addition, the physical properties of the fiber bundle surface also make it easy to slip during the insertion process, resulting in alignment deviation. Traditional mechanical clamps or adhesive structures are used to fix the optical fiber, which cannot ensure the axial alignment accuracy of high-density optical fibers in the spatial arrangement, which easily leads to a decrease in the coupling efficiency of the light beam and increases the scattering loss. In current technical practice, mechanical clamps and micron-level processing technology are widely used in the arrangement and guidance of optical fiber bundles. However, these methods still have significant deficiencies in dealing with the high-precision requirements of complex optical fiber bundle arrangements. On the one hand, the complexity and limitations of mechanical clamps: Although mechanical clamps can provide basic physical positioning, their structure is complex and the operation is cumbersome, making it difficult to maintain stability and accuracy in large-scale industrial applications. In addition, mechanical devices are easily disturbed by environmental factors, such as slight vibrations or temperature changes, which cause slight deviations of the optical fiber bundle during insertion. On the other hand, the micron-level processing technology has a precision bottleneck: micron-level processing attempts to control the arrangement path of the fiber bundle through fine processing, but this technology requires extremely high precision of the equipment, is expensive, and is difficult to maintain consistency in mass production. Especially when the density of the fiber bundle increases, the precision is difficult to meet the needs of high-density, multi-fiber bundle systems.

[0005] Third, the thermal stability of existing beam combiners is limited. As the power of fiber lasers increases, the thermal stability requirements of beam combiners are also increasing. However, when dealing with high-power laser transmission, the traditional taper method is prone to performance degradation or even failure due to local thermal expansion and stress concentration. Summary of the invention

[0006] One advantage of the present invention is that it provides a fiber optic combiner and a method for manufacturing the same, which significantly improves the arrangement accuracy and transmission efficiency of the optical fiber components, while improving the stability of the optical fiber transmission, effectively reducing the risk of burning, and ensuring the stability and long life of the fiber optic combiner.

[0007] Another advantage of the present invention is that it provides an optical fiber combiner and a method for manufacturing the same. The optical fiber combiner is provided with an etching unit on the surface of an optical fiber cladding of each optical fiber component, which effectively removes the optical fiber cladding, greatly reduces the accumulation of cladding light, eliminates the risk of the combiner burning due to the accumulation of cladding light and heat, and significantly improves the thermal stability of the system.

[0008] Another advantage of the present invention is that it provides a fiber optic combiner and a method for manufacturing the same. The fiber optic combiner is provided with guide units on both sides of a quartz tube assembly, which optimizes the insertion process of the fiber optic assembly, enables the fiber optic assembly to maintain axial symmetry in a high-density arrangement, reduces beam scattering loss, and improves the accuracy of fiber arrangement.

[0009] Another advantage of the present invention is that it provides an optical fiber combiner and a manufacturing method thereof. The optical fiber combiner combines the design of the etching unit and the guiding unit to reduce scattering and reflection losses, thereby greatly improving the light beam transmission efficiency.

[0010] Another advantage of the present invention is that it provides a fiber optic combiner and a method for manufacturing the same, wherein the fiber optic combiner achieves natural axial alignment during the insertion of the fiber optic component, ensuring that the fiber optic component maintains high-precision arrangement within the quartz tube component, reducing reliance on other complex mechanical positioning devices.

[0011] Another advantage of the present invention is that it provides an optical fiber combiner and a method for manufacturing the same. The method for manufacturing the optical fiber combiner simplifies the process flow and greatly reduces the complexity of processing and assembly compared to traditional mechanical clamps or adhesive fixation.

[0012] Another advantage of the present invention is that it provides a fiber optic combiner and a method for manufacturing the same. The fiber optic combiner has adaptability and scalability. The present design is not only applicable to 450nm blue laser, but can also be expanded to fiber optic laser systems of other wavelengths and power levels as required.

[0013] According to another aspect of the present invention, the present invention further provides an optical fiber combiner and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the optical fiber combiner comprises:

[0014] A plurality of optical fiber components, wherein each of the optical fiber components is provided with an etching unit; and

[0015] A quartz tube assembly, the quartz tube assembly includes a quartz tube body and two guide units, the two guide units are respectively arranged on both sides of the quartz tube body and extend inwardly from the two side surfaces of the quartz tube body, and a plurality of optical fiber assemblies are suitable for being axially symmetrically installed in the quartz tube assembly.

[0016] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the optical fiber component includes a fiber coating, a fiber cladding and a fiber core, the fiber cladding is coated on the outside of the fiber core, the fiber coating is coated on the outside of the fiber cladding, and the etching unit is arranged on the fiber cladding.

[0017] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the quartz tube assembly further has an installation channel, the two guide units are respectively arranged on both sides of the quartz tube body and extend inward from the two side surfaces of the quartz tube body to form two guide grooves, and the multiple optical fiber assemblies are suitable for being axially symmetrically installed in the installation channel.

[0018] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the guide unit includes a first guide unit and a second guide unit, the first guide unit extends from the surface of the quartz tube body toward the inside in a tapered shape, and the second guide unit extends from the surface of the quartz tube body toward the inside in a tapered shape.

[0019] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the guide unit includes a first guide unit and a second guide unit, the first guide unit extends from the surface of the quartz tube body toward the inside in a step-like manner, and the second guide unit extends from the surface of the quartz tube body toward the inside in a step-like manner.

[0020] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the cone angle range of the first guide unit and the second guide unit is set to be 5° to 30°.

[0021] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the guide lengths of the first guide unit and the second guide unit are set to 10 mm to 30 mm.

[0022] According to another aspect of the present invention, the present invention further provides a method for manufacturing a fiber combiner, comprising the steps of:

[0023] A: an etching unit is provided on the surface of an optical fiber cladding of an optical fiber component;

[0024] B: Two guide units are formed from the surface of a quartz tube component by taper forming;

[0025] C: inserting a plurality of the optical fiber assemblies into the quartz tube assembly and allowing the optical fiber assemblies to be axially symmetrically installed in the quartz tube assembly;

[0026] D: tapering and cutting the quartz tube assembly in a manner that optically matches an input end to an output end; and

[0027] E: Fusion splicing the output end with a single output optical fiber to form the optical fiber combiner.

[0028] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the step A of providing an etching unit on the surface of an optical fiber cladding of an optical fiber component comprises:

[0029] The etching unit is formed by performing surface microstructure treatment on a predetermined position of the optical fiber cladding through a specific chemical etching process, wherein the specific chemical etching process is to apply or spray a mixed liquid of HF acid and frosting paste on the optical fiber cladding.

[0030] Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be fully apparent from an understanding of the following description and the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of a fiber combiner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0032] Figure 2 It is a schematic structural diagram of an optical fiber assembly of an optical fiber combiner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0033] Figure 3 is an enlarged view of an etching unit of a fiber combiner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0034] Figure 4 It is a physical picture of the etching unit of a fiber combiner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0035] Figure 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a fiber combiner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0036] Figure 6 It is a flowchart of a method for manufacturing a fiber combiner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0037] Figure 7 It is a schematic structural diagram of another implementation manner of a guide unit of a fiber combiner according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0038] The following description is used to disclose the present invention so that those skilled in the art can implement the present invention. The preferred embodiments described below are only examples, and those skilled in the art can think of other obvious variations. The basic principles of the present invention defined in the following description can be applied to other embodiments, variations, improvements, equivalents, and other technical solutions that do not deviate from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

[0039] Those skilled in the art should understand that, in the disclosure of the present invention, the terms "longitudinal", "lateral", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside" and the like indicating the orientation or position relationship are based on the orientation or position relationship shown in the drawings, which are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operate in a specific orientation. Therefore, the above terms should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

[0040] It is to be understood that the term "one" should be understood as "at least one" or "one or more", that is, in one embodiment, the number of an element may be one, while in another embodiment, the number of the element may be multiple, and the term "one" should not be understood as a limitation on the quantity.

[0041] Reference Figure 1 To Attachment Figure 7 As shown, a fiber combiner and a manufacturing method thereof according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention are schematically illustrated. Figure 1 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the optical fiber combiner and its manufacturing method 1 according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the optical fiber combiner 1 includes a plurality of optical fiber components 10 and a quartz tube component 20, and the optical fiber components 10 are axially symmetrically installed in the quartz tube component 20 to form the optical fiber combiner 1.

[0042] In this embodiment, the fiber combiner 1 and its manufacturing method are suitable for high-power blue laser systems, especially for 450nm blue lasers. In other possible implementations, the fiber combiner 1 and its manufacturing method can also be extended to fiber laser systems of other wavelengths and power levels according to needs, which is not a limitation of the present invention. This is conducive to improving the adaptability and expansibility of the fiber combiner 1.

[0043] Figure 2It is a schematic diagram of the structure of an optical fiber assembly of an optical fiber combiner according to an embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, the optical fiber assembly 10 includes an optical fiber coating 11, an optical fiber cladding 12, an optical fiber core 13 and an etching unit 14, the optical fiber cladding 12 is coated on the outside of the optical fiber core 13, the optical fiber coating 11 is coated on the outside of the optical fiber cladding 12, the etching unit 14 is arranged on the optical fiber cladding 12, and the optical fiber core 13 provides a transmission channel for the laser beam to ensure the stability and efficiency of the laser during the transmission process.

[0044] In other words, ideally, when high-power fiber laser is transmitted through the fiber assembly 10, most of the light energy should be confined in the fiber core 13. However, in the actual transmission process, due to various factors, such as manufacturing process defects of the fiber, excessive bending of the fiber, etc., part of the light beam fails to be completely confined in the fiber core 13, and enters the fiber cladding 12 to form a cladding light. As the laser continues to transmit, the cladding light will continue to accumulate in the fiber cladding 12. Since the fiber cladding 12 is not specially designed for efficient transmission of laser energy, the cladding light will interact with the fiber cladding 12 when transmitting in the fiber cladding 12, causing part of the light energy to be absorbed and converted into heat energy. When the thermal effect continues to intensify and the heat in the fiber assembly 10 cannot be dissipated in time, it will cause local overheating of the fiber assembly 10. Local overheating will have a serious impact on the performance of the fiber assembly 10, such as changing the refractive index of the fiber, thereby further affecting the transmission quality of the laser. If the local overheating is not effectively controlled, the heat will continue to accumulate, and may eventually cause the combiner to burn out.

[0045] Figure 3 is an enlarged view of an etching unit of a fiber combiner according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 1 is a physical picture of the etching unit of a fiber combiner according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment of the present application, the etching unit 14 can effectively remove the fiber cladding 12, completely eliminate the accumulation of cladding light, eliminate the risk of burning the fiber combiner 1 due to the accumulation of cladding light and heat, and significantly improve the thermal stability of the fiber combiner 1.

[0046] The quartz tube assembly 20 includes a quartz tube body 21, two guide units 23 and an installation channel 22. The two guide units 23 are respectively arranged on both sides of the quartz tube body 21 and extend inward from the two side surfaces of the quartz tube body 21 to form two guide grooves 24. The multiple optical fiber assemblies 10 are suitable for being axially symmetrically installed in the installation channel 22 of the quartz tube assembly 20.

[0047] Specifically, the guide unit 23 includes a first guide unit 231 and a second guide unit 232. In this embodiment, for the sake of convenience, the first guide unit 231 is defined as being located on the left side of the quartz tube body 21, and the second guide unit 232 is defined as being located on the right side of the quartz tube body 21. The first guide unit 231 extends from the left side surface of the quartz tube body 21 toward the inside in a tapered shape, and the second guide unit 232 extends from the right side surface of the quartz tube body 21 toward the inside in a tapered shape. Through the guiding function of the guide unit 23, it is ensured that the multiple optical fiber assemblies 10 can be installed in an axially symmetrical state around the central axis of the quartz tube assembly 20, and then embedded in the installation channel 22 inside the quartz tube assembly 20.

[0048] It is worth mentioning that, in the description of this application, Figure 5 It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of a fiber combiner according to an embodiment of the present invention. The number of the optical fiber components 10 is set to 4, that is, as shown in the figure, the four optical fiber components 10 are installed in an axially symmetrical state around the central axis of the quartz tube component 20, which optimizes the insertion process of the optical fiber component 10, so that the optical fiber component 10 maintains axial symmetry in high-density arrangement, reduces beam scattering loss, improves the accuracy of optical fiber arrangement, and reduces dependence on other complex mechanical positioning devices. In other possible implementations, the number of the optical fiber components 10 can also be set to 5, 6, etc. In this regard, those skilled in the art should understand that the number of the optical fiber components 10 is not a limitation of the present invention.

[0049] What is more worth mentioning is that Figure 7 1 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a guide unit of a fiber combiner according to an embodiment of the present invention. Different from the guide unit 23 described above, in this embodiment, the first guide unit 231 extends from the left side surface of the quartz tube body 21 toward the inside in a stepped manner, and the second guide unit 232 extends from the right side surface of the quartz tube body 21 toward the inside in a stepped manner. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the form of the guide unit 23 is not a limitation of the present invention.

[0050] In this embodiment, preferably, a surface microstructure treatment is performed on a predetermined position of the optical fiber cladding 12 through a specific chemical etching process (combination of HF acid and frosting paste) to form the etching unit 14. Specifically, in order to achieve specific optical performance and function optimization, the optical fiber cladding needs to be finely processed on the surface microstructure. In this process, HF acid is combined with frosting paste. HF acid is highly corrosive and can accurately corrode and dissolve the surface material of the optical fiber cladding 12, while frosting paste can control the speed and range of etching to a certain extent, making the etching process more uniform and stable. The mixture of HF acid and frosting paste in a good proportion is evenly applied or sprayed on the predetermined position of the optical fiber cladding 12. As the reaction time passes, the surface of the predetermined position of the optical fiber cladding 12 gradually forms a microstructure that meets the design requirements, namely, the etching unit 14.

[0051] In this embodiment, the cone angle range of the first guide unit 231 and the second guide unit 232 is set to 5° to 30°, and the guide length of the first guide unit 231 and the second guide unit 232 is set to 10 mm to 30 mm. Specifically, the first guide unit 231 extends from the surface of the quartz tube body 21 to the inside at a 5° to 30° concave, and the second guide unit 232 extends from the surface of the quartz tube body 21 to the inside at a 5° to 30° concave, and the extension length of the first guide unit 231 and the second guide unit 232 is 10 mm to 30 mm.

[0052] It is worth mentioning that the guide unit 21 is formed by taper-forming the two ends of the quartz tube body 21 to form a double-end symmetrical tapered guide structure, namely the guide unit 23 .

[0053] It is worth mentioning that after inserting a plurality of optical fiber assemblies 10 into the installation channel 22 of the quartz tube assembly 20 according to actual needs, the first guide unit 231 and the second guide unit 232 ensure the axial symmetric arrangement of the optical fiber assemblies 10. Then, the quartz tube assembly 20 is tapered and cut to optically match an input end and an output end of the optical fiber combiner 1. Finally, the tapered output end of the quartz tube assembly 20 is fused with a single output optical fiber to complete the production of the optical fiber combiner 1.

[0054] In summary, the fiber combiner 1 significantly improves the arrangement accuracy and transmission efficiency of the fiber assembly 10, while improving the stability of fiber transmission, effectively reducing the risk of burning, and ensuring the stability and long life of the fiber combiner 1. In other words, the fiber combiner 1 combines the design of the etching unit 14 and the guide unit 23 to reduce scattering and reflection losses, thereby greatly improving the light beam transmission efficiency.

[0055] The following is an exemplary description of the method for manufacturing the optical fiber combiner 1:

[0056] A: an etching unit is provided on the surface of an optical fiber cladding of an optical fiber component;

[0057] B: Two guide units are formed from the surface of a quartz tube component by taper forming;

[0058] C: inserting a plurality of the optical fiber assemblies into the quartz tube assembly and allowing the optical fiber assemblies to be axially symmetrically installed in the quartz tube assembly;

[0059] D: tapering and cutting the quartz tube assembly in a manner that optically matches an input end to an output end; and

[0060] E: Fusion splicing the output end with a single output optical fiber to form the optical fiber combiner.

[0061] In summary, the manufacturing method of the fiber combiner 1 simplifies the process flow, greatly reduces the complexity of processing and assembly compared with traditional mechanical clamps or adhesive fixation, and is not only suitable for 450nm blue lasers, but can also be expanded to fiber laser systems of other wavelengths and power levels according to needs. In addition, the fiber combiner 1 realizes the natural axial alignment of the optical fiber assembly 10 during the insertion process, ensuring that the optical fiber assembly 10 maintains high-precision arrangement in the quartz tube assembly 20, reducing the dependence on other complex mechanical positioning devices.

[0062] It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments of the present invention described above and shown in the accompanying drawings are only examples and do not limit the present invention. The purpose of the present invention has been fully and effectively achieved. The functional and structural principles of the present invention have been demonstrated and explained in the embodiments, and the embodiments of the present invention may be deformed or modified in any way without departing from the principles.

Claims

1. A fiber combiner, characterized in that: include: A plurality of optical fiber components, wherein each of the optical fiber components is provided with an etching unit; and A quartz tube assembly, the quartz tube assembly includes a quartz tube body and two guide units, the two guide units are respectively arranged on both sides of the quartz tube body and extend inwardly from the two side surfaces of the quartz tube body, and a plurality of optical fiber assemblies are suitable for being axially symmetrically installed in the quartz tube assembly.

2. The optical fiber combiner according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber assembly comprises an optical fiber coating, an optical fiber cladding and an optical fiber core, the optical fiber cladding is coated on the outside of the optical fiber core, the optical fiber coating is coated on the outside of the optical fiber cladding, and the etching unit is arranged on the optical fiber cladding.

3. The optical fiber combiner according to claim 2, wherein the quartz tube assembly also has an installation channel, the two guide units are respectively arranged on both sides of the quartz tube body and extend inward from the two side surfaces of the quartz tube body to form two guide grooves, and the plurality of optical fiber assemblies are suitable for being axially symmetrically installed in the installation channel.

4. The optical fiber combiner according to claim 3, wherein the guide unit comprises a first guide unit and a second guide unit, the first guide unit extends from the left side surface of the quartz tube body toward the inside in a tapered shape, and the second guide unit extends from the right side surface of the quartz tube body toward the inside in a tapered shape.

5. The optical fiber combiner according to claim 3, wherein the guide unit comprises a first guide unit and a second guide unit, the first guide unit extending from the left side surface of the quartz tube body toward the inside in a stepped manner, and the second guide unit extending from the right side surface of the quartz tube body toward the inside in a stepped manner. 6 . The optical fiber combiner according to claim 1 , wherein the cone angle range of the first guide unit and the second guide unit is set to 5° to 30°.

7. The optical fiber combiner according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the guide lengths of the first guide unit and the second guide unit are set to 10 mm to 30 mm.

8. A method for manufacturing a fiber combiner, characterized in that: Includes steps: A: an etching unit is provided on the surface of an optical fiber cladding of an optical fiber component; B: Two guide units are formed from the surface of a quartz tube component by taper forming; C: inserting a plurality of the optical fiber assemblies into the quartz tube assembly and allowing the optical fiber assemblies to be axially symmetrically installed in the quartz tube assembly; D: tapering and cutting the quartz tube assembly in a manner that optically matches an input end to an output end; and E: Fusion splicing the output end with a single output optical fiber to form the optical fiber combiner.

9. The method for manufacturing an optical fiber combiner according to claim 8, wherein an etching unit is set on the surface of an optical fiber cladding of an optical fiber component, and a surface microstructure treatment is performed on a predetermined position of the optical fiber cladding through a specific chemical etching process to form the etching unit, wherein the specific chemical etching process is to apply or spray a mixed liquid of HF acid and frosting paste on the optical fiber cladding.

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