CN114709710A

CN114709710A - Semiconductor optical fiber laser

Info

Publication number: CN114709710A
Application number: CN202210257564.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王栋; 马凯胜; 秦华兵; 王友志
Original assignee: Weifang Huaguang Photoelectronics Co ltd
Current assignee: Weifang Huaguang Photoelectronics Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-03-16
Filing date: 2022-03-16
Publication date: 2022-07-05

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of semiconductor lasers, and particularly discloses a semiconductor fiber laser. The laser also comprises a frustum pyramid lens arranged on the light path of the laser, the bottom surface of the frustum pyramid lens faces the light field or the shaped light field, and the top surface of the frustum pyramid lens faces the optical fiber. When the light field is irradiated on any position on the bottom surface of the frustum-shaped lens, the light field does not need to be adjusted to be completely coaxial with the lens, but the light is guided out of the top surface of the lens by reflection of the conical surface of the lens and then is totally guided into the optical fiber. The mode of coupling by adopting the frustum-shaped lens can realize that the light field is completely collected into the optical fiber only by adjusting the light field emitted by the laser light source or the shaped light field to be within the area range of the bottom surface of the frustum-shaped lens, and the lens and the optical fiber do not need to be accurately adjusted to be coaxial like the traditional semiconductor laser.

Description

Semiconductor optical fiber laser

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of semiconductor lasers, in particular to a semiconductor fiber laser.

Background

The information disclosed in this background of the invention is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and is not necessarily to be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Compared with solid laser and gas laser, the semiconductor laser has the advantages of high efficiency, small volume, long service life, low cost, etc. With the progress of growth technology, the improvement of packaging capacity, cost reduction and the like, the application fields of semiconductor lasers are continuously expanded, such as medical and beauty, industrial welding, cutting, communication, military industry, entertainment fields and the like.

Currently, semiconductor fiber lasers are largely classified into high-power LDs and low-power LDs. High efficiency, high power lasers are the goal pursued in the industry. Except for the influence of the inherent power level of the chip, how to efficiently couple the optical path of the chip into the optical fiber, reduce the optical path loss, improve the coupling efficiency and improve the conversion efficiency is a key process for obtaining high-power output.

At present, the coupling of the semiconductor laser and the optical fiber can be divided into two categories: one is split lens coupling, i.e., a method of inserting an optical element, such as an insert lens, a prism, a self-focusing lens, etc., between a light source and an optical fiber. The other is that the optical fibers are directly coupled without going through any system. In any method, the purpose is to shape the light field emitted by the laser, so that the incident light field and the intrinsic light field of the optical fiber can be matched to the maximum extent. The coupling of the two modes depends on high-precision adjustment, and the LD light field, the lens and the optical fiber are finally adjusted to be coaxial.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a semiconductor optical fiber laser, aiming at the problems of high adjusting difficulty, high cost, low efficiency and low electro-optic conversion efficiency of the existing semiconductor laser and optical fiber coupling. In order to achieve the above object, the present invention discloses the following technical solutions.

The semiconductor optical fiber laser also comprises a frustum-shaped lens arranged on an optical path of the laser, wherein the bottom surface of the frustum-shaped lens faces an optical field or a reshaped optical field, and the top surface of the frustum-shaped lens faces an optical fiber. When the light field irradiates on any position on the bottom surface of the frustum-shaped lens, the light field does not need to be adjusted to be completely coaxial with the lens, but the light is guided to be output from the top surface of the frustum-shaped lens by utilizing the reflection of the conical surface of the frustum-shaped lens and then is completely guided into the optical fiber, so that the adjustment difficulty of the coupling of the semiconductor laser and the optical fiber is obviously reduced.

Further, the outer surface between the top surface and the bottom surface of the frustum-shaped lens is provided with a reflective film; preferably, the reflective film is a total reflection film.

The material of the reflective film may include any one of an Al film, an Ag film, an Au film, a B4C/Mo/Si film, a B4C/Si film, and a Mo/Si film.

Further, the frustum pyramid-shaped lens is at least a triangular frustum pyramid, that is, the top surface and the bottom surface of the frustum pyramid-shaped lens are any one of polygons such as a triangle and a quadrangle.

Further, the laser also has a laser light source and a light field shaping element. The laser light source, the light field shaping element, the frustum-shaped lens and the optical fiber are sequentially distributed along a light path. Laser emitted by the laser source enters the frustum-shaped lens for focusing after being shaped by the spherical lens and then enters the optical fiber.

Furthermore, the laser light source, the pyramid-shaped lens, the light field shaping element and the optical fiber are sequentially distributed along the light path. Laser emitted by the laser source enters the light field shaping element for shaping after being focused by the frustum-shaped lens and then enters the optical fiber.

Optionally, the light field shaping element comprises any one of a spherical lens, a self-focusing lens, and the like.

Alternatively, the laser light source includes any one of an LD light source, an LED light source, and the like.

Furthermore, the laser light source, the self-focusing lens, the frustum-shaped lens and the optical fiber are sequentially distributed along the light path. Laser emitted by the laser source enters the frustum-shaped lens for focusing after passing through the self-focusing lens and then enters the optical fiber.

Furthermore, the laser light source, the frustum-shaped lens, the self-focusing lens and the optical fiber are sequentially distributed along the light path. Laser emitted by the laser source enters the self-focusing lens after being focused by the frustum-shaped lens and then enters the optical fiber.

Further, as for a member disposed adjacent to the top surface of the frustum-shaped lens, the member is joined to the top surface of the frustum-shaped lens.

Further, for the end face of the component connected to the top face of the frustum-shaped lens, the size of the top face of the frustum-shaped lens is smaller than that of the end face of the component, so that light can enter the component completely.

Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following beneficial effects:

at present, in the general coupling mode of the excimer laser in the prior art, an LD, an optical element and an optical fiber need to be adjusted to be coaxial through high precision, the precision reaches a micron level, the adjustment precision coupling difficulty is high, the efficiency is low, once the coaxiality is not adjusted in place, the electro-optic conversion efficiency is obviously reduced, and the maximum power output cannot be ensured. According to the laser coupling mode, the coupling requirement can be met under the condition of millimeter-scale adjustment, and therefore the adjustment difficulty is remarkably reduced.

(2) In the mode of coupling by adopting the frustum-shaped lens, the size of the bottom surface of the frustum-shaped lens is larger than that of the top surface, and the size of the top surface can be easily processed to be smaller than the diameter of the optical fiber, so that the optical field can be more easily ensured to be coupled into the optical fiber to the maximum extent, the probability of the optical field entering an optical fiber cladding is reduced, and the coupling efficiency is obviously improved.

(3) The invention adopts the frustum-shaped lens for coupling, has convenient operation, obviously reduces the production cost of the semiconductor optical fiber laser, and improves the production efficiency which is more than twice of that of the traditional method through tests.

(4) In the mode of coupling by adopting the frustum-shaped lens, the top surface of the frustum-shaped lens is connected with the optical fiber, so that the bottom surface of the frustum-shaped lens is only required to be cleaned to ensure that the frustum-shaped lens is cleaned, and the problems that the end surface of the optical fiber is not easy to clean and easy to pollute and burn are simply and conveniently overcome.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention and not to limit the invention.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a semiconductor fiber laser in the following example.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of the structure of the semiconductor fiber laser in example 1.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of the structure of the semiconductor fiber laser in embodiment 2.

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural view of a semiconductor fiber laser in embodiment 3.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of the structure of a semiconductor fiber laser in example 4.

Fig. 6 is a schematic view of the structure of a semiconductor fiber laser in example 5.

The numerical designations in the drawings represent the following components, respectively: 1-LD light source, 2-spherical lens, 3-frustum-shaped lens, 4-optical fiber and 5-self-focusing lens.

Detailed Description

It is to be understood that the following detailed description is exemplary and is intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs.

It is noted that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of exemplary embodiments according to the invention. As used herein, the singular is intended to include the plural unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Furthermore, it will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, devices, components, and/or combinations thereof.

For convenience of description, the words "up", "down", "left" and "right" in the present invention, if any, merely indicate that the directions of movement are consistent with those of the drawings, and do not limit the structure, but merely facilitate the description of the invention and simplify the description, rather than indicate or imply that the referenced device or element needs to have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus should not be construed as limiting the invention. The semiconductor laser will be described in detail with reference to the drawings and specific embodiments.

Example 1

Referring to fig. 1, there is illustrated a semiconductor fibre laser comprising: an LD light source 1, a spherical lens 2, a pyramid-shaped lens 3, and an optical fiber 4. The frustum pyramid-shaped lens 3 is a hexagonal frustum, that is, the top surface and the bottom surface of the frustum pyramid-shaped lens 3 are both hexagonal (refer to fig. 2). The LD light source 1, the spherical lens 2, the frustum-shaped lens 3 and the optical fiber 4 are sequentially distributed along the light path of the light field emitted by the LD light source 1, and the top surface of the frustum-shaped lens 3 is welded with the left end surface of the optical fiber 4. Because the top surface of the frustum pyramid-shaped lens 3 is connected with the optical fiber 4, only the bottom surface of the frustum pyramid-shaped lens 3 needs to be cleaned to ensure that the frustum pyramid-shaped lens is clean, and the problems that the end face of the optical fiber is not easy to clean and is easy to pollute and burn are simply and conveniently overcome.

The laser emitted from the LD light source 1 is shaped by the spherical lens 2 and then strikes the bottom surface of the truncated pyramid lens 3, and the laser enters the truncated pyramid lens 3, is guided by the reflection of the conical surface of the truncated pyramid lens to be output from the top surface thereof, and is then guided into the optical fiber 2. The laser of the embodiment is characterized in that: when the light field irradiates any position on the bottom surface of the frustum-shaped lens 3, the light field does not need to be adjusted to be completely coaxial with the frustum-shaped lens 3, so that the adjusting difficulty of the coupling of the semiconductor laser and the optical fiber is remarkably reduced, and the maximum power output of the laser is realized.

Example 2

Referring to fig. 3 and 2, there is illustrated another semiconductor fibre laser comprising: an LD light source 1, a spherical lens 2, a pyramid-shaped lens 3, and an optical fiber 4. Similarly, the frustum-shaped lens 3 is a hexagonal frustum. The LD light source 1, the frustum-shaped lens 3, the spherical lens 2, and the optical fiber 4 are sequentially distributed along a light path of a light field emitted by the LD light source 1, and the spherical lens 2 is not welded to the top surface of the frustum-shaped lens 3.

In this embodiment, the bottom surface of the frustum-shaped lens 3 directly faces the LD light source 1 to emit the light field, and the laser light emitted from the LD light source 1 directly enters the frustum-shaped lens 3 to be focused, and then is shaped by the spherical lens 2 and then is guided into the optical fiber 4. Similarly, the laser of this embodiment also does not need to adjust the optical field to be completely coaxial with the frustum-shaped lens 3, thereby significantly reducing the difficulty of adjusting the coupling between the semiconductor laser and the optical fiber and realizing the maximum power output of the laser.

Example 3

Referring to fig. 4 and 2, another semiconductor fibre laser is illustrated, the laser comprising only: an LD light source 1, a pyramid-shaped lens 3, and an optical fiber 4. The pyramid-shaped lens 3 is a hexagonal pyramid. The LD light source 1, the frustum-shaped lens 3, and the optical fiber 4 are sequentially distributed along the optical path of the light field emitted by the LD light source 1, and the top surface of the frustum-shaped lens 3 is welded to the left end surface of the optical fiber 4. That is, in the present embodiment, the laser light emitted from the LD light source 1 enters the truncated pyramid lens 3, is focused, and is directly introduced into the optical fiber 4 without being shaped by the spherical lens 2. Similarly, the laser of this embodiment also does not need to adjust the optical field to be completely coaxial with the frustum-shaped lens 3, thereby significantly reducing the difficulty of adjusting the coupling between the semiconductor laser and the optical fiber and realizing the maximum power output of the laser.

Example 4

Referring to fig. 5 and 2, another semiconductor fiber laser is illustrated which differs from the semiconductor fiber laser illustrated in embodiment 2 above in that: the spherical lens 2 is replaced by the self-focusing lens 5, and the left end face of the self-focusing lens 5 is welded with the top face of the frustum pyramid-shaped lens 3. The self-focusing lens 5 can refract the light transmitted along the axial direction and gradually reduce the distribution of the refractive index along the radial direction, thereby realizing that the emergent light rays are smoothly and continuously converged to one point.

In this embodiment, the bottom surface of the frustum-shaped lens 3 directly faces the LD light source 1 to emit the light field, and the laser light emitted from the LD light source 1 directly enters the frustum-shaped lens 3 to be focused, and is then shaped by the self-focusing lens 5 and then is all guided into the optical fiber 4. Similarly, the laser of this embodiment also does not need to adjust the optical field to be completely coaxial with the frustum-shaped lens 3, thereby significantly reducing the difficulty of adjusting the coupling between the semiconductor laser and the optical fiber and realizing the maximum power output of the laser.

Example 5

Referring to fig. 6 and 2, another semiconductor fiber laser is illustrated which differs from the semiconductor fiber laser illustrated in embodiment 1 above in that: a self-focusing lens 5 is used instead of the spherical lens 2. The laser emitted by the LD light source 1 enters the self-focusing lens 5 for shaping, then enters the frustum-shaped lens 3 for focusing, and is totally guided into the optical fiber 4. Similarly, the laser of this embodiment also does not need to adjust the optical field to be completely coaxial with the frustum-shaped lens 3, thereby significantly reducing the difficulty of adjusting the coupling between the semiconductor laser and the optical fiber and realizing the maximum power output of the laser.

In other preferred embodiments, for the end surface of the component connected to the top surface of the frustum-shaped lens 3, the size of the top surface of the frustum-shaped lens 3 is smaller than the size of the end surface of the component, so that the light can enter the component completely.

For example, in the

above embodiments

1, 3 and 5, the width of the top surface of the truncated pyramid-shaped lens 3 is smaller than the diameter of the optical fiber 4, and for example, the width of the top surface of the truncated pyramid-shaped lens 3 is smaller than the diameter of the optical fiber 4 by 0.01mm, so that all the laser light focused by the truncated pyramid-shaped lens 3 is guided into the optical fiber 4, and the power loss of the laser is reduced.

For example, in the above embodiment 2, the size of the top surface of the truncated pyramid-shaped lens 3 is smaller than the diameter of the spherical lens 2, so that the laser light focused by the truncated pyramid-shaped lens 3 is entirely guided into the spherical lens 2, and the power loss of the laser is reduced.

For example, in the above embodiment 4, the size of the top surface of the truncated pyramid-shaped lens 3 is smaller than the size of the left end surface of the self-focusing lens 5, so that all the laser light focused by the truncated pyramid-shaped lens 3 is guided to the self-focusing lens 5, and the power loss of the laser is reduced.

In addition, it should be understood that the frustum-shaped lens 3 may have other edge configurations, for example, the top and bottom surfaces of the frustum-shaped lens 3 may be triangular, quadrangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, heptagonal, octagonal, and dodecagonal. After laser emitted by the LD light source 1 enters the pyramid-shaped lens 3, light can be guided to be output from the top surface of the lens under the reflection action of the conical surface of the lens and then is guided into the optical fiber 4 completely, so that the difficulty in adjusting the coupling of the semiconductor laser and the optical fiber is remarkably reduced.

In another preferred embodiment, a total reflection film is coated on the outer surface between the top surface and the bottom surface of the frustum-shaped lens 3 to better perform total reflection on the laser entering the frustum-shaped lens 3, so that the laser enters the optical fiber 2 completely, and the power loss of the laser is reduced. Therefore, the material of the reflecting film includes any one of Al film, Ag film, Au film, B4C/Mo/Si film, B4C/Si film, Mo/Si film, and the like. The reflective film made of the material has extremely low absorptivity to light source wave bands, and is favorable for realizing total reflection of the frustum-shaped lens 3 to light.

Above-mentioned embodiment adopts the mode that frustum of a pyramid form lens 3 carries out the coupling only to need adjust the light field that LD light source 1 sent or the light field after the plastic to the bottom surface area within range of frustum of a pyramid form lens 3, can realize taking in optic fibre 2 with the light field is whole, and need not to need to adjust lens and optic fibre to coaxial with the accuracy like traditional semiconductor laser, only need can satisfy the coupling demand under the condition that realizes millimeter level and adjust to showing and having reduced the regulation degree of difficulty. Meanwhile, the mode of coupling by adopting the frustum-shaped lens 3 is convenient to operate, the production cost of the semiconductor optical fiber laser is obviously reduced, the production efficiency is improved, and through tests, the production efficiency is more than twice of that of the traditional method.

Finally, it should be understood that any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention. Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, and it should be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made without inventive changes in the technical solutions of the present invention.

Claims

1. A semiconductor optical fiber laser further comprises a frustum-shaped lens arranged on a light path of the laser, wherein the bottom surface of the frustum-shaped lens faces a light field or a reshaped light field, and the top surface of the frustum-shaped lens faces an optical fiber.

2. A semiconductor fibre laser as claimed in claim 1 wherein the outer surface of the pyramidal lens between its top and bottom faces is provided with a reflective film; preferably, the reflective film is a total reflection film.

3. A semiconductor fibre laser as claimed in claim 2, wherein the reflective film comprises any one of an Al film, an Ag film, an Au film, a B4C/Mo/Si film, a B4C/Si film, and a Mo/Si film.

4. A semiconductor fibre laser as claimed in claim 1 wherein the frustum-shaped lens is at least a triangular pyramid.

5. A semiconductor fibre laser as claimed in claim 1 wherein the laser further has a laser light source, a light field shaping element; the laser light source, the light field shaping element, the frustum-shaped lens and the optical fiber are sequentially distributed along the light path.

6. A semiconductor fibre laser as claimed in claim 1 wherein the laser further has a laser light source, a light field shaping element; the laser light source, the pyramid-shaped lens, the light field shaping element and the optical fiber are sequentially distributed along the light path.

7. A semiconductor fibre laser as claimed in claim 5 or 6 wherein the optical field shaping element comprises any one of a ball lens, a self-focussing lens.

8. A semiconductor fibre laser as claimed in claim 5 or 6 wherein the laser light source comprises any one of an LD light source, an LED light source.

9. A semiconductor fibre laser as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein for a part located adjacent the top surface of the frustum-shaped lens, the part is joined to the top surface of the frustum-shaped lens.

10. A semiconductor fibre laser as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein for the component end face to which the top face of the frustum-shaped lens is connected, the size of the top face of the frustum-shaped lens is smaller than the size of the component end face.