Power scalable optical systems for generating, transporting, and delivering high power, high quality, laser beams
First Claim
1. A power scalable optical system for generating, transporting, and delivering high power laser beams, comprising:
- means for producing a high power, super-Gaussian laser beam; and
a multi-mode, self-imaging waveguide coupled optically to receive and transmit said high power, super-Gaussian laser beam to at least one output aperture that is positioned in a re-imaging plane in the waveguide.
3 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
Power scalable, rectangular, multi-mode, self-imaging, waveguide technologies are used with various combination of large aperture configurations, 20, 50, 80, 322, 324, 326, 328, 330, 332, 334, 336, 338, Gaussian 360 and super-Gaussian 350 beam profiles, thermal management configurations 100, flared 240 and tapered 161 waveguide shapes, axial or zig-zag light propagation paths, diffractive wall couplers 304, 306, 308, 310, 312, 314, 316, 318, 320 and phase controller 200, flexibility 210, phased arrays 450, 490, beam combiners 530, 530′, and separators 344, 430, and other features to generate, transport, and deliver high power laser beams.
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Citations
160 Claims
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1. A power scalable optical system for generating, transporting, and delivering high power laser beams, comprising:
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means for producing a high power, super-Gaussian laser beam; and
a multi-mode, self-imaging waveguide coupled optically to receive and transmit said high power, super-Gaussian laser beam to at least one output aperture that is positioned in a re-imaging plane in the waveguide. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 114, 136)
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67. An optical system for delivering a beam with a desires spatial profile to an application, comprising:
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an elongated, twistable, and bendable, multi-mode, self-imaging, beam transport waveguide that has at least one inlet aperture and at least one outlet aperture spaced a distance of WSIP×
i from the inlet aperture; and
a laser amplifier with optical components that are capable of producing a laser beam with the desire spatial profile coupled to the inlet aperture of the beam transport waveguide. - View Dependent Claims (68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80)
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81. An amplifier system for producing a high power laser beam, comprising:
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a multi-mode, self-imaging, waveguide having a core of solid gain or mixing medium with a rectangular cross-section, and cladding material that has a coefficient of thermal conduction, interior cladding surfaces abutting opposite, waveguiding surfaces of the rectangular core, and exterior cladding surfaces that are opposite the interior cladding surfaces;
a beam input coupling system capable of providing a desired spatial phase profile of the laser beam at an entrance aperture of the core to propagate the laser beam into waveguide;
a pump light source coupled into the waveguide core medium to propagate pump light energy into the core medium to be extracted by the laser beam;
a beam output coupling system capable of coupling an output beam from the core at a plane where the beam propagating in the core re-phases into the desired spatial phase profile; and
a heat sink positioned adjacent and in contact with an exterior surface of the cladding material, said heat sink. - View Dependent Claims (82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98)
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99. Laser amplifier apparatus, comprising:
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a multi-mode, rectangular, self-imaging, waveguide comprising a core of optical gain or mixing medium with a rectangular cross-section, opposed top and bottom surfaces, and opposed left and right lateral surfaces, reflectors adjacent the left and right lateral surfaces, an inlet aperture, and an outlet aperture;
a pump light source coupled optically into the core;
an optical system positioned to couple an input laser beam with a desired spatial profile to the input aperture at an angle that propagates the laser beam to reflect off the reflectors in a zig-zag path in the core medium to the outlet aperture positioned in a re-imaging plane where the beam re-phases into the desired spatial profile. - View Dependent Claims (100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107)
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108. Laser amplifier apparatus, comprising:
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a multi-mode, one-dimensional, rectangular, self-imaging, waveguide including a core with a length equal to WSIP×
i and which is flared outwardly in a non-imaging, transverse, direction so that the core has increasing larger rectangular cross-sections from an inlet face at one end of the core to an outlet face at the opposite end; and
a pump light source coupled optically to the core. - View Dependent Claims (109, 110, 111)
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112. Laser apparatus, comprising:
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a multi-mode, rectangular, self-imaging, waveguide, which has a core comprising a solid gain medium laminated between two sheets of cladding with exterior surfaces, said waveguide being sandwiched between two heat sinks, each of which has a heat sink surface that interfaces in contacting relation with one of the exterior surfaces of the cladding and that extends outwardly beyond the cladding to form a pump mounting surface;
at least one laser diode pump light source mounted in thermally conductive relation to the heat sink surfaces and in a position to couple pump light into the core; and
an optical system configured and positioned to direct a beam into the core of the waveguide with a desired spatial profile and to couple the beam out of the core after the beam has extracted pump energy from the core and at a re-imaging plane where, after having separated into multiple modes of propagation through the core, the beam re-phases into the desired spatial profile. - View Dependent Claims (113, 115, 116)
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117. The Laser apparatus, comprising:
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a multi-mode, rectangular, self-imaging, waveguide, which has a core comprising an unclad, solid gain medium and at least one flat side;
a heat sink with at least one flat side positioned in thermal conductive relation to the flat side of the core;
at least one laser diode pump light source mounted in position to couple pump light into the core; and
an optical system configured and positioned to direct a beam into the core of the waveguide with a desired spatial profile and to couple the beam out of the core after the beam has extracted pump energy from the core and at a re-imaging plane, where, after having separated into multiple modes of propagation through the core, the beam re-phases into the desired spatial profile. - View Dependent Claims (118)
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119. An optical beam combiner, comprising:
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a first multi-mode, rectangular, self-imaging, input waveguide that has a first input waveguide inlet aperture and a first input waveguide outlet aperture, wherein the first input waveguide outlet aperture is positioned a distance of WSIP×
i from the first input waveguide inlet aperture;
a second multi-mode, rectangular, self-imaging, input waveguide that has a second input waveguide inlet aperture and a second input waveguide outlet aperture, wherein the second input waveguide outlet aperture is positioned adjacent and in a common plane with the first input waveguide outlet aperture and at a distance of WSIP×
i from the second input waveguide inlet aperture;
a multi-mode, rectangular, self-imaging combiner waveguide that has a combiner waveguide inlet aperture sized and shaped to match a composite of the first input waveguide outlet aperture and the second input waveguide outlet aperture positioned in the common plane, said combiner waveguide inlet aperture also being positioned in the common plane and coupled optically to receive light from both the first and second inlet waveguide outlet apertures, and said combiner waveguide also having a combiner waveguide outlet aperture that is positioned at a self-imaging plane of the combiner waveguide. - View Dependent Claims (120, 121, 122)
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123. A laser beam transport system, comprising:
a plurality of multi-mode, rectangular, self-imaging, waveguides stacked together in an array, wherein all of the waveguides in the array are of equal cross-sectional shape and size and of equal length and have input apertures all in a common input aperture plane and output apertures all in a common output aperture plane, said length between the input aperture plane and the output aperture plane being equal to WSIP×
i.- View Dependent Claims (124, 125)
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126. A laser beam synthesizer, comprising:
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a plurality of multi-mode, rectangular, self-imaging waveguides, each of which has an inlet aperture and at least one outlet aperture positioned at a distance of WSIP×
i from the input aperture;
means for producing a plurality of phase-matched beams with a common spatial profile and for coupling such beams into the inlet apertures of respective ones of said waveguides; and
a beam director positioned at each of the outlet apertures, the beam director at each of the outlet apertures being set to direct all of the beams to a common point. - View Dependent Claims (127)
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128. A method of providing a high power, diffraction limited, laser beam to a desired application, comprising:
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producing a high power laser beam with a spatial profile;
coupling said beam into an input aperture of an elongated, multi-mode, self-imaging, waveguide that extends to an output aperture positioned both at a desired point of delivery for the beam and at a self-imaging plane where the beam re-phases into the desire spatial profile; and
coupling said beam out of said output aperture for the desired application. - View Dependent Claims (129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154)
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155. A method of delivering a high power, composite beam with a desire spatial profile to an application, comprising:
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assembling a plurality of multi-mode, rectangular, self-imaging, waveguides of equal cross-sectional dimensions and of equal length between respective inlet and outlet apertures of the waveguides into an array with the outlet apertures of all of the waveguides in a common plane;
producing a plurality of high power laser beams that are phase-matched to each other and that have the desired spatial profile;
coupling the plurality of laser beams into respective input apertures of the plurality of waveguides so that the laser beams propagate through separate waveguides to the outlet apertures in the common plane; and
coupling the laser beams out of the waveguides in a composite high power laser beam that has the desired spatial profile. - View Dependent Claims (156, 157)
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158. A method of transporting an image, comprising:
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producing a plurality of phase-matched laser beams each of which comprises an integral portion of a composite image; and
coupling each of the beams into a respective one of an array of rectangular, multi-mode, self-imaging waveguides and maintaining respective positions of the waveguides in relation to each other at respective outlet apertures of the waveguides in a common outlet plane. - View Dependent Claims (159)
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160. A method of delivering a synthesized, high power, laser beam with a desired spatial profile, comprising:
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producing a plurality of phase-matched, high power laser beams with the desired spatial profile;
coupling the laser beams into input apertures of respective ones of a plurality of elongated, multi-mode, rectangular, self-imaging, waveguides, each of which waveguides has at least one outlet aperture spaced at a distance of WSIP×
i from the inlet aperture of such waveguide; and
coupling the laser beams out of said outlet apertures and directing them to a common point.
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Specification