Multi-Clad Fiber Pump Combiner With Tapered Trenches
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Solution Overview
Problem
High power fiber pump combiners are vulnerable to imperfections and losses, leading to reduced optical efficiency and beam quality, especially when using glass-polymer interfaces, which are prone to defects and contamination during handling and manufacturing.
Innovation Solution
A pump combiner design that incorporates tapered trenches in multi-clad fibers to guide pump fibers without disturbing the active fiber core, preserving beam quality and polarization purity, and is compatible with both glass-clad and polymer-clad fibers, allowing for efficient power coupling and reduced optical loss.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If glass-polymer interface is used in double clad fibers, then pump light guidance is achieved, but the interface is sensitive to defects and contamination during handling and manufacturing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary glass cladding layer between the polymer buffer and the pump light path. This glass cladding acts as a mediator that provides a robust, defect-resistant interface for pump light guidance while allowing the polymer buffer to remain in contact with the user during handling, thus isolating the critical optical interface from mechanical stresses and contamination.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a composite fiber structure with multiple materials serving different functions: polymer buffer for user interaction and mechanical protection, glass cladding for robust pump light guidance, and glass-air interface for total internal reflection. This multi-material composite approach allows each layer to optimize its specific function, resolving the contradiction between ease of handling and reliability.
2Power
If multiple fibers are combined to achieve higher power, then output power increases, but optical efficiency and beam quality are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the pump light guidance function from the signal transmission function by using separate cladding regions. Multiple pump fibers are combined in the glass cladding region without interfering with the signal core, allowing efficient power combination while maintaining optimal optical properties for each function independently.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent moves pump light guidance to a different spatial dimension (the glass cladding region surrounding the signal core) rather than combining fibers in the same spatial plane. This dimensional separation allows multiple pump fibers to be combined efficiently without degrading beam quality or optical efficiency of the signal transmission.
3Use of energy by moving object
If pump light is guided in traditional double clad fiber, then pump power transmission is achieved, but the fiber is vulnerable to defects and contamination during handling
Solution Approach 1:
The glass cladding serves as an intermediary layer that protects the pump light transmission path from harmful factors. It creates a stable, contamination-resistant interface that maintains pump power transmission while isolating the critical optical path from user handling and environmental contaminants.
Solution Approach 2:
The glass cladding creates an inert, contamination-free environment for pump light guidance. The glass-material interface is inherently more resistant to contamination and defects compared to polymer interfaces, providing a stable optical path that is insensitive to handling conditions and environmental factors.
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
The solution enhances the robustness and manufacturability of kW-class fiber laser systems by maintaining high beam quality and polarization purity, while reducing optical loss and heat load, and is compatible with various fiber types, including round and polarization-maintaining fibers.
Implementation Method 1
By guiding the pump light with a glass to glass interface, the buffer avoids the vast majority of interaction with the pump light
Implementation Method 2
A pump combiner design that incorporates tapered trenches in multi-clad fibers to guide pump fibers without disturbing the active fiber core
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein is a fiber pump combiner, comprising, a multi-clad fiber comprising an outer cladding layer and an inner cladding layer, a plurality of tapered trenches formed in the inner cladding layer and a plurality of pump fibers, wherein the plurality of pump fibers are tapered and fused into corresponding ones of the plurality of tapered trenches.