Optical Fiber Bundle Beam Overlap for High-Density Laser Spots
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Solution Overview
Problem
Laser processing faces challenges in achieving high power density due to beam divergence issues when using tapered optical fibers or waveguides, and the use of power combiners can lead to heat generation and failures like combustion or disconnection.
Innovation Solution
An optical fiber bundle with an optical deflection unit at the emission end that overlaps and scatters laser beams from multiple optical fibers to form a high-power density irradiation spot without the need for a power combiner, reducing beam divergence and heat generation risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of moving object
If a tapered optical fiber or waveguide is used to narrow the beam emission port, then the beam size is reduced, but the beam divergence increases causing the irradiation spot to expand and power density to decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the beam transmission system into multiple separate optical fibers instead of using a single tapered fiber. Each fiber maintains its own beam path, allowing the emission ports to remain large while the beams are positioned close together through lateral arrangement, thus avoiding the beam divergence problem caused by tapering
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a single-dimensional tapering approach (narrowing the fiber diameter along the propagation direction) to a multi-dimensional arrangement where multiple fibers are positioned laterally adjacent to each other. This spatial reconfiguration allows achieving a compact effective emission area without reducing individual fiber dimensions, thereby maintaining low beam divergence
2Illumination intensity
If a power combiner is used to combine multiple laser lights into a single fiber, then the power density can be increased, but heat generation occurs leading to combustion or disconnection failures
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the power combiner component from the system. Instead of combining multiple laser lights into a single fiber through a power combiner (which generates heat), the system uses multiple separate optical fibers that transmit individual laser lights independently. The high power density is achieved by positioning these separate beams in close proximity rather than merging them, thus removing the heat generation source and improving reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The invention converts the potential harm of having multiple separate beams (which would normally result in lower power density) into a benefit by using precise lateral positioning to achieve both separation (avoiding heat generation from combining) and proximity (maintaining high power density at the target). The apparent disadvantage of multiple beams is transformed into an advantage for system reliability
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
This approach effectively forms a laser beam with a large power density at the irradiation spot while minimizing the risk of failures such as combustion or disconnection, maintaining a stable and focused beam.
Implementation Method 1
an optical deflection unit that deflects at least two light beams toward different directions, respectively, such that the at least two light beams emitted from respective light emission ends of at least two optical fibers out of the plurality of optical fibers overlap each other on at least one cross section that is at rear on an optical path of the emission side bundle end and are then scattered
Data Source
AI summary
An irradiation spot of the laser beam having a large power density can be formed by a condensing apparatus which combines a plurality of laser lights without using a power combiner. The condensing apparatus comprises an optical fiber bundle formed of a plurality of optical fibers. One end of the optical fiber bundle forms an incident side bundle end, while the other end forms an emission side bundle end. The optical fiber bundle includes, at the emission side bundle end, an optical deflection unit that deflects at least two light beams emitted from respective light emission ends of at least two optical fibers toward different directions, respectively, such that the at least two light beams overlap each other on at least one cross section at rear on an optical path of the emission side bundle end and are then scattered.