Scalable wavelength beam combining system and method

• US 8,824,049 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2013
• Issued: 09/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation Of North America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Bien Chann, Robin Huang
• Inventors: Chann, Bien, Huang, Robin
• Primary Examiner(s): Jones, James
• Application Number:
  US14/053,529
• Publication Number:
  US 20140036358A1
• Time in Patent Office: 323 Days
• Field of Search: 359/556
• US Class Current: 359/556
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 19/0014 at least one surface having optical power
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 19/0028 refractive and reflective surfaces, e.g. non-imaging catadioptric systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 19/0057 in the form of a laser diode array, e.g. laser diode bar semiconductor laser arrays with beam combining arrangement H01S5/4012
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 19/009 for use with infrared radiation
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 23/04 for the purpose of beam splitting or combining, e.g. fitted with eyepieces for more than one observer G02B23/10 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0905 Dividing and/or superposing multiple light beams
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/1006 for splitting or combining different wavelengths G02B27/1086, G02B27/141 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/14 operating by reflection only
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 2301/03 Suppression of nonlinear conversion, e.g. specific design to suppress for example stimulated brillouin scattering [SBS], mainly in optical fibres in combination with multimode pumping
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/06733 Fibre having more than one cladding
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/0675 Resonators including a grating structure, e.g. distributed Bragg reflectors [DBR] or distributed feedback [DFB] fibre lasers
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/094053 Fibre coupled pump, e.g. delivering pump light using a fibre or a fibre bundle
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/094057 by tapered duct or homogenized light pipe, e.g. for concentrating pump light
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/09408 Pump redundancy
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/094096 Multi-wavelength pumping
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/09415 the pumping beam being parallel to the lasing mode of the pumped medium, e.g. end-pumping
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/1618 ytterbium
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/175 phosphate glass
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/176 silica or silicate glass
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/0057 for temporal shaping, e.g. pulse compression, frequency chirping
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/4012 : Beam combining, e.g. by the use of fibres, gratings, polarisers, prisms
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/405 : Two-dimensional arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/4062 : with an external cavity or using internal filters, e.g. Talbot filters
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/4087 : emitting more than one wavelength

Abstract

Systems and methods have been provided to scale wavelength beam combining (WBC) systems, which are systems configured to increase output power, as well as spatial and/or spectral brightness when utilizing or combining a plurality of beam emitters.

Claims

1. A scalable wavelength beam combiner system comprising:

a plurality of modular laser input devices, wherein each modular laser input device includes;

at least one beam emitter configured to produce an electromagnetic beam, and

at least one collecting optical element, wherein each collecting optical element collects the emitted beams and delivers the collected beams onto a dispersive element, and wherein the dispersive element transmits the collected beams as a combined beam profile; and

a partially-reflecting output coupler arranged to receive the combined beams from the dispersive element, to reflect a portion of the combined beams toward the dispersive element, and to transmit the combined beams as a multi-wavelength beam comprising electromagnetic radiation having a plurality of wavelengths.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the collecting optical element has a diameter less than or equal to five inches.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each modular laser input device is configured to be selectively turned on and off.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein each modular laser input device produces a bandwidth distinct from the other modular laser input devices.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein each modular laser input produces at least 100 Watts of power.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the single output profile has a minimum brightness and output power maintained for at least 50,000 hours.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the dispersive element is placed less than focal length of the collecting optic away from the collecting optic.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the dispersive element is placed greater than a focal length of the collecting optic away from the collecting optic.

9. The system of claim 1, further including a sensing system configured to detect data of the single output profile.

10. The system of claim 9, further including a controller configured to receive the output data and selectively turn on or off laser input modules.

11. A scalable wavelength beam combiner system comprising:

a plurality of modular laser input devices, wherein each modular laser input device includes;

a plurality of beam emitter modules each configured to produce an electromagnetic beam;

at least one primary telescoping optic for each laser module, wherein the primary telescoping optic is configured to receive an emitted beam from a respective laser module;

a secondary telescoping optic aligned to form a telescoping system with each of the primary telescoping optics, wherein the telescoping system aligns the beams parallel to each other;

a collecting optic configured to receive the parallel beams and cause the parallel beams to initially converge along a beam combining dimension;

a dispersive element positioned to receive beams from the collecting optic and transmit the beams as a combined beam profile; and

a partially-reflecting output coupler arranged to receive the combined beams from the dispersive element, to reflect a portion of the combined beams toward the dispersive element, and to transmit the combined beams as a multi-wavelength beam comprising electromagnetic radiation having a plurality of wavelengths.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the collecting optic has a diameter less than or equal to five inches.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the collecting optic is a curved mirror with a diameter less than or equal to five inches.

14. A method for scaling a WBC system comprising the steps of:

arranging a plurality of collecting optics to each receive and deliver at least one emitted electromagnetic beam onto a dispersive element;

transmitting the beams from the dispersive element as a combined beam profile;

reflecting a portion of the combined beams back towards the dispersive element; and

transmitting the combined output profile as a multi-wavelength beam comprising optical radiation having a plurality of wavelengths.

15. A method for a scaling an external cavity WBC system comprising the steps of:

receiving emitted electromagnetic beams from modules of one or more beam emitters into an optical telescoping system having more than one input surface, wherein the telescoping system has an input surface for each module;

aligning all the received beams parallel to each other;

causing the parallel beams to initially converge;

collecting the converging beams onto a dispersive element;

transmitting a combined beam profile from the dispersive element;

reflecting a portion of the combined beams back into the beam emitters; and

transmitting a multi-wavelength beam comprising optical radiation having a plurality of wavelengths.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of collimating the emitted beams along at least one dimension prior to being received by the telescoping system.