Adjustable Fiber Beam Shaping Without Free-Space Optics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current fiber-coupled laser systems lack the ability to adjust beam characteristics efficiently, leading to suboptimal performance in various materials processing tasks such as cutting, welding, and additive manufacturing, due to reliance on free-space optics which increase cost, complexity, and reduce reliability.
Innovation Solution
A method and system utilizing a fiber structure with adjustable refractive-index profiles and confinement regions to modify and maintain beam characteristics within the fiber, allowing for variable beam parameters like diameter, divergence, and power density without the need for free-space optics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If free-space optics or complex add-on mechanisms are used to vary beam characteristics, then beam adjustability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the beam characteristic adjustment function from external free-space optics and integrates it directly into the optical fiber structure itself. By incorporating multiple cores with different refractive indices within the fiber, the system achieves beam adjustment capabilities without requiring external lenses, mirrors, or other free-space optical components, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple optical functions (beam delivery, beam shaping, and beam characteristic adjustment) into a single integrated optical fiber structure. By combining multiple cores with different refractive indices and coupling regions within one fiber assembly, the system achieves both beam delivery and beam characteristic variation without requiring separate adjustment mechanisms, thus reducing overall system complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If free-space optics are used to adjust beam characteristics, then beam parameter variability is improved, but reliability decreases due to additional components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes unreliable external free-space optical components from the system and extracts the adjustment function directly into the fiber structure. This eliminates potential failure points associated with external lenses, mirrors, and alignment mechanisms, thereby improving reliability while maintaining beam parameter variability through the integrated multi-core fiber design.
3Device complexity
If conventional laser systems with fixed beam characteristics are used, then device complexity is reduced, but manufacturing precision deteriorates for different processing tasks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different refractive indices to different cores within the optical fiber assembly. Each core is optimized for specific beam characteristics (e.g., different spot sizes, divergence angles), allowing the system to deliver locally optimized beam properties for different processing tasks while maintaining overall system simplicity. This enables precise control for both thick metal welding and thin metal cutting without requiring complex external adjustment mechanisms.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables flexible and efficient adjustment of beam characteristics for improved performance in materials processing, reducing costs and complexity while maintaining reliability, and enhancing productivity in additive manufacturing by optimizing beam parameters for specific tasks.
Implementation Method 1
a first length of fiber having a first refractive-index profile... a second length of fiber having a second refractive-index profile
Implementation Method 2
optical power is delivered from the laser to a work piece via an optical fiber
Data Source
AI summary
A method of processing by controlling one or more beam characteristics of an optical beam may include: launching the optical beam into a first length of fiber having a first refractive-index profile (RIP); coupling the optical beam from the first length of fiber into a second length of fiber having a second RIP and one or more confinement regions; modifying the one or more beam characteristics of the optical beam in the first length of fiber, in the second length of fiber, or in the first and second lengths of fiber; confining the modified one or more beam characteristics of the optical beam within the one or more confinement regions of the second length of fiber; and/or generating an output beam, having the modified one or more beam characteristics of the optical beam, from the second length of fiber. The first RIP may differ from the second RIP.