Fiber laser apparatus
First Claim
1. A fiber laser apparatus comprising:
- a seed light source outputting seed light;
an amplifying section for amplifying the seed light by cladding-pumping, said amplifying section including;
an amplifying optical fiber having a core extending along a predetermined axis, an inner cladding provided on an outer periphery of said core and having a refractive index lower than that of said core, and an outer cladding provided on an outer periphery of said inner cladding and having a refractive index lower than that of said inner cladding;
an pumping light source outputting pumping light; and
an optical multiplexers for supplying the seed light from said seed light source to said core of said amplifying optical fiber and supplying the pumping light from said pumping light source to said inner cladding of said amplifying optical fiber, whereby said amplifying optical fiber outputs single-mode amplified seed light that is amplified by cladding-pumping together with multimode residual pumping light;
an output optical system irradiating an object with the single-mode amplified seed light and multimode residual pumping light that are outputted from said amplifying optical fiber, said output optical system converging the single-mode amplified seed light on the object; and
a guiding optical fiber, for guiding the single-mode amplified seed light and multimode residual pumping light that are outputted from said amplifying optical fiber to said output optical system, provided between said amplifying optical fiber and said output optical system, said guiding optical fiber having a core extending along a predetermined axis, an inner cladding provided on an outer periphery of said core and having a refractive index lower than that of said core, and an outer cladding provided on an outer periphery of said inner cladding and having a refractive index lower than that of said inner cladding, whereby the single-mode amplified seed light outputted from said amplifying optical fiber propagates mainly in said core of said guiding optical fiber, and the multimode residual pumping light outputted from said amplifying optical fiber propagates mainly in said core and inner cladding of said guiding optical fiber.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The fiber laser apparatus comprises an amplifying section for amplifying seed light by cladding-pumping, and has a structure for further using a residual component of pumping light for cladding-pumping in order to heat the object. A guiding optical fiber is provided between an amplifying optical fiber of the amplifying section and an output optical system converging the single-mode amplified seed light on the object, the guiding optical fiber serving to increase the degree of freedom in arranging the output optical system. The guiding optical fiber has a structure enabling the single-mode propagation of the amplified seed light outputted from the amplifying optical fiber and multimode propagation of the residual pumping light. Because the object is irradiated with the converged amplified seed light, while being heated with the residual pumping light outputted from the output optical system, even an object with a complex shape can be subjected to efficient laser processing.
-
Citations
6 Claims
-
1. A fiber laser apparatus comprising:
-
a seed light source outputting seed light; an amplifying section for amplifying the seed light by cladding-pumping, said amplifying section including; an amplifying optical fiber having a core extending along a predetermined axis, an inner cladding provided on an outer periphery of said core and having a refractive index lower than that of said core, and an outer cladding provided on an outer periphery of said inner cladding and having a refractive index lower than that of said inner cladding; an pumping light source outputting pumping light; and an optical multiplexers for supplying the seed light from said seed light source to said core of said amplifying optical fiber and supplying the pumping light from said pumping light source to said inner cladding of said amplifying optical fiber, whereby said amplifying optical fiber outputs single-mode amplified seed light that is amplified by cladding-pumping together with multimode residual pumping light; an output optical system irradiating an object with the single-mode amplified seed light and multimode residual pumping light that are outputted from said amplifying optical fiber, said output optical system converging the single-mode amplified seed light on the object; and a guiding optical fiber, for guiding the single-mode amplified seed light and multimode residual pumping light that are outputted from said amplifying optical fiber to said output optical system, provided between said amplifying optical fiber and said output optical system, said guiding optical fiber having a core extending along a predetermined axis, an inner cladding provided on an outer periphery of said core and having a refractive index lower than that of said core, and an outer cladding provided on an outer periphery of said inner cladding and having a refractive index lower than that of said inner cladding, whereby the single-mode amplified seed light outputted from said amplifying optical fiber propagates mainly in said core of said guiding optical fiber, and the multimode residual pumping light outputted from said amplifying optical fiber propagates mainly in said core and inner cladding of said guiding optical fiber. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
Specification