CN218867627U - Reconfigurable modular optical system and laser thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to the field of laser technology, a reconfigurable high integration level modular optical system and laser instrument thereof is disclosed, wherein, reconfigurable modular optical system includes: the pump source module, the optical gate module and the resonant cavity module are respectively provided with at least one butt joint port, and the pump source module, the optical gate module and the resonant cavity module can be connected in a combined manner through the butt joint ports in a direct plugging manner, so that an optical system with a forward, reverse or bidirectional pumping structure can be constructed without adding accessories.

Description

Reconfigurable modular optical system and laser thereof

Technical Field

The utility model relates to a laser technical field especially relates to a reconfigurable modular optical system and laser instrument thereof.

Background

Metal and non-metal material processing using high power fiber lasers or direct semiconductor lasers can exhibit very superior performance, but the larger scale application of high power laser processing is limited by the high cost of the lasers. The multiplexing technology of laser processing is an effective and feasible solution, one path of main fiber laser is divided into two paths or multiple paths of sub-laser output by adopting an optical switch or a spatial optical shutter, and the use cost of the laser is reduced by sharing the laser, however, too many peripheral devices are configured in the processing equipment, the complex connection mode makes the response speed of hardware and software become slow, which is not beneficial to the improvement of the laser processing efficiency, and meanwhile, the volume of the core laser is larger along with the continuous improvement of the processing power.

Therefore, it is an important development trend in the laser market to manufacture a small-sized laser by using a high-integration modular device and a simple and compact optical path scheme.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The utility model provides a reconfigurable modularization optical system and fiber laser to solve above-mentioned technical problem.

The utility model provides a reconfigurable modular optical system, include: the pump source module, the optical gate module and the resonant cavity module are respectively provided with at least one butt joint port, and the pump source module, the optical gate module and the resonant cavity module are connected in a combined manner through the butt joint ports, so that an optical system with a forward, reverse or bidirectional pumping structure is constructed.

In some embodiments, the pumping module is composed of any one or more of a plurality of laser diode chips, bars, arrays, and fiber coupling modules.

In some embodiments, the resonator module comprises any one of a reverse fiber resonator module, a forward fiber resonator module, a reverse solid resonator module, and a forward solid resonator module.

In some embodiments, the backward fiber cavity module or the forward fiber cavity module comprises an active fiber, a high-reflection grating and a low-reflection grating, wherein the active fiber, the high-reflection grating and the low-reflection grating are directly connected in a pluggable manner;

the reverse solid resonant cavity module or the forward solid resonant cavity module comprises a laser crystal and a frequency doubling crystal, and the laser lens and the frequency doubling crystal can be directly connected in a plug-in mode.

In some embodiments, the docking ports of the optical gate module include two docking ports for coupling the pump module and the resonant cavity module, and at least two output ports for outputting one or more wavelengths of laser light in a time-sharing or light-splitting manner.

In some embodiments, the optical shutter module includes a first switching component and a second switching component, each of the first switching component and the second switching component is provided with at least one docking port, and the docking ports are used to implement a combination connection capable of being directly plugged and unplugged, so as to perform light splitting, time sharing, or light splitting and time sharing output on laser with different wavelengths as required.

In some embodiments, the pump module and the shutter module are both free-space optical modules, with fiber-less direct connections made through docking ports.

The utility model also provides a reverse pumping structure laser adopts foretell reconfigurable modularization optical system, optical path system connects gradually by a pump source module, an optical gate module and a reverse resonant cavity module and forms, the pump light of pump module outgoing passes through the optical gate jets into reverse resonant cavity module, reverse resonant cavity module is used for the pump light gain amplification who jets into for signal light back reverse incidence the optical gate, the optical gate carries out beam split, timesharing or beam split timesharing output to the incident light.

The utility model also provides a forward pumping structure laser adopts foretell reconfigurable modularization optical system, optical path system connects gradually by a pump source module, an optical gate module and a forward resonant cavity module and forms, forward resonant cavity module connect in on the at least one butt joint port of optical gate, the pump light of pump module outgoing gets into the optical gate, the optical gate is right the pump light carries out beam split, timesharing or beam split output, and wherein pump light gets into all the way at least external forward resonant cavity module gain amplification is signal light output.

The utility model also provides a two-way pumping structure laser adopts foretell reconfigurable modularization optical system, optical path system is formed by connecting gradually first pump source module, an optical gate module, a reverse cavity module and second pumping module, first pumping module with the pumping light of second pumping module output gets into reverse cavity module, the reverse cavity module will jet into forward pumping light and reverse pumping light gain amplification be signal light back reverse incidence the optical gate, the optical gate carries out beam split, timesharing or beam split timesharing output to the incident light.

Compared with the prior art, the utility model provides a reconfigurable modularization optical system and laser's beneficial effect includes:

as a reconfigurable modular optical system, an optical switching component and a laser emission component are integrated to share the same free optical system, instead of the traditional space optics (pump source) that enters an optical fiber, the optical fiber is welded with an optical fiber resonant cavity, and the optical fiber is emitted to an output head, enters an optical gate and is finally output from an output optical fiber head of the optical gate; the pump laser emitted by the laser emission component is directly transmitted to the laser resonant cavity through the optical switching component, so that an optical fiber beam combiner is omitted, fewer fusion points are needed, the optical transmission loss is low, the divergence angle is controlled, the active optical fiber conversion efficiency is improved, the optical-optical conversion efficiency is improved, the same electric power is input, higher optical power can be output, and the electro-optical efficiency of a product is improved;

the utility model integrates the pumping source and the optical gate which are independently arranged in the prior art to a high degree, so that the structure of the light path is greatly simplified and more compact, the corresponding design of the structural hardware is simplified, the volume of the laser is greatly reduced, and the cost is saved;

meanwhile, the resonant cavity and the amplifier are modularized and are easy to replace according to actual production, the signal light after gain amplification is coupled with the pump light and is directly output from different ports, the modularization enables the response speed of software and hardware to be accelerated, the extensible output port supports flat top, annular and same-wavelength straw hat type light spots, the requirements of different customers are met through different transmission optical fibers, the working efficiency is further improved by sharing the same laser platform, and the use cost is reduced.

Drawings

One or more embodiments are illustrated in drawings corresponding to, and not limiting to, the embodiments, in which elements having the same reference number designation may be represented as similar elements, unless specifically noted, the drawings in the figures are not to scale.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a modular optical system with a reverse pumping structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a modular optical system with a forward pumping structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a modular optical system with a forward pumping structure according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a modular optical system with a bidirectional pumping structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the drawings and examples. It is to be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of and not restrictive on the broad embodiments of the present application. It should be further noted that, for convenience of description, only some structures related to the embodiments of the present application are shown in the drawings, not all of the structures are shown.

Furthermore, the terms first, second, third and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for descriptive purposes only to distinguish one element from another, and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implying any order or order to the indicated elements. The terms are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature.

Similarly, the terms "fixed" and "connected," as used in the description and claims, are not intended to be limited to a direct connection. Thus, the expression "device a is connected to device B" should not be limited to devices or systems in which device a is directly connected to device B, meaning that there is a path between device a and device B, which may be a path including other devices or tools.

The utility model provides a reconfigurable modular optical system, include: the pump source module, the optical gate module and the resonant cavity module are respectively provided with at least one butt joint port, and the pump source module, the optical gate module and the resonant cavity module are connected in a direct plugging and combining manner through the butt joint ports, so that an optical system with a reverse, same or bidirectional pumping structure is constructed, and light splitting, time sharing or light splitting and time sharing output of one or more wavelengths of laser light is realized.

The pumping module can use a plurality of laser diode chips, bars, arrays (Stack), fiber coupling modules or a mixed structure of the above elements as a transmitting unit according to the requirement, and outputs high-brightness pumping laser.

The optical gate module comprises a plurality of spectroscopes or reflectors, and different coating layers are arranged on the lenses to completely transmit incident light, or partially reflect and partially transmit the incident light according to different proportions, or allow light with a wavelength smaller (or larger) to pass through, and reflect light with a wavelength larger (or smaller) so as to realize the energy splitting of light beams with specific wavelengths.

The pumping module and the optical gate module are free space optical modules, and optical fiber-free direct connection between the modules can be realized through a butt joint port.

The resonant cavity module can be an optical fiber laser resonant cavity module or a module matched with a secondary amplification module, or a solid resonant cavity module or a module matched with a frequency doubling module, and coupling butt joint with the pumping module or the optical gate module is realized through a butt joint port connected with the transmission optical fiber. The active optical fiber, the high-reflection grating and the low-reflection grating in the optical fiber resonant cavity module can be directly reconstructed in a plug-in mode, the fiber core of the active optical fiber can be replaced by a diameter parameter smaller than that of the transmission optical fiber to output optical fiber laser with different brightness, the active optical fiber with a specific length can be replaced according to requirements to achieve proportional absorption of pump light, and the resonant cavity outputs dual-wavelength composite laser with a central light spot as a signal light peripheral light spot as the pump light through double-cladding or triple-cladding optical fiber coupling. Similarly, the solid resonant cavity module can select the ultraviolet laser suitable for cutting the brittle material or the gain amplification output of other monochromatic lasers such as the blue laser suitable for welding and the like according to the processing requirement by replacing the type of the laser crystal.

In summary, it can be understood that, by selecting gain media with different parameters (diameter, length, rare element doping concentration, etc.), the laser output by the resonant cavity module may be a newly generated/amplified clean signal light with different wavelengths, or may include a high-brightness signal light transmitted through a fiber core of an optical fiber, or may include a low-brightness pump light transmitted through a fiber cladding and unabsorbed, and accordingly, the output light spot type may be a flat-top light spot, a gaussian light spot, or a high-brightness signal light at the center, and the edge is an annular or a straw hat-shaped composite light spot of the low-brightness pump laser, thereby greatly enriching the types of the output laser, and correspondingly reducing the number of lasers used.

Referring to fig. 1, an embodiment of the present invention provides a modular optical system with a reverse pumping structure, including: the device comprises a pumping module 11, an optical shutter module 12 and a reverse resonant cavity module 13 which are connected in sequence through butt joint ports.

In the optical system constructed by the above modules, the pump light L1 emitted from the pump module 11 directly irradiates the light gate module 12 through the butt port, enters the reverse resonant cavity module 13 through the transmission coupling of the light gate module 12 and is gain-amplified into the signal light L2, and the signal light L2 is reversely retro-reflected to the light gate module 12 along the original path and then is output in a split-beam manner, in a time-sharing manner, or in a split-beam and time-sharing manner through different split-path channels.

Specifically, the shutter module 12 includes: the first switching assembly 1201 is disposed on an exit light path of the pump light L1, and the first switching assembly 1201 includes a first incident surface 1201a and a second incident surface 1201b, where the first incident surface 1201a is used for transmitting the pump light L1, and the second incident surface 1201b is used for reflecting the signal light L2.

The shutter module 12 further includes a second switching assembly 1202 disposed on one side of the first switching assembly 1201, and on a reflected light path of the signal light L2, the reflected signal light is reflected to different branch channels by switching control of the second switching assembly 1202, and output in different manners is realized according to types of mirrors, where the number of branch channels is the same as the number of beam splitters or mirrors disposed in the second switching assembly 1202.

In some embodiments, when the second switching component is a partially reflective and partially transmissive beam splitter, the incident signal light L2 may be proportionally split to the corresponding splitting channel and output at the same time;

in some embodiments, when the second switching member is a movable or rotatable total reflection mirror, the incident signal light L2 may be time-divisionally output from different branching channels;

in some embodiments, when the second switching component is a combination of the above two lenses, the incident signal light L2 can be split proportionally to the corresponding splitting channel and time-division output can be realized.

Two butt- joint ports 1204a and 1204b are respectively arranged on the side wall of the optical gate module 12 and are respectively coupled with the butt-joint port of the pumping module 11 and the butt-joint port of the reverse resonant cavity 13, and the butt-joint ports are both positioned on the emergent light path of the pumping light L1.

The optical shutter module 12 is further provided with at least two output ports 1205 on the side wall thereof, the output ports 1205 are located on the same side of the housing as the docking port 1204b of the external reverse resonant cavity module 13, and the output ports 1205 are arranged at the exit ends of the respective branch channels, and serve as expansion interfaces, which can be used for external connection of a laser output head or a forward resonant cavity module.

Referring to fig. 2, an embodiment of the present invention provides a modular optical system with a forward pumping structure, including: a pumping module 11, a forward resonant cavity module 14 and an optical shutter module 12 which are connected in sequence.

In the optical system constructed by the above modules, the pump light L1 emitted from the forward pump module 11 enters the forward resonant cavity module 14, and is gain-amplified into the signal light L2, and the signal light L2 is split-output, time-sharing output, or split-time-sharing output from different splitting channels through the optical gate module 12.

The difference from the previous embodiment is that the incident light entering the optical shutter module 12 is the converted signal light L2, the first switching element 1201 is provided with only one total reflection incident surface, the second switching element 1202 is provided on the reflection light path of the signal light L2 on the side of the first switching element 1201, and the second switching element 1202 controls and realizes the split light output, the time-sharing output or the split light time-sharing output from different branch channels.

Referring to fig. 3, another embodiment of the present invention provides a modular optical system with a forward pumping structure, including:

a pump module 11 and an optical shutter module 12 that are docked, and a forward cavity module 14 that is connected to docking port 1204b or output port 1205 of optical shutter module 12.

In the optical system constructed by the above modules, the pump light L1 emitted from the pump module 11 is output in a light splitting, time-sharing or light-splitting and time-sharing manner from different splitting channels through the optical gate module 12, wherein the exit end of at least one splitting channel is connected to the forward resonant cavity module 14, the pump light L1 output from the splitting channel enters the forward resonant cavity module 14, and is gain-amplified into signal light L2, and then is coupled to the laser output head.

When the branch light enters the fiber laser resonant cavity, the output laser gain is amplified into fiber laser; when the branched light enters the solid resonant cavity, the output laser gain is amplified into monochromatic laser with different wavelengths.

Referring to fig. 4, in another embodiment of the present invention, a modular optical system with a bidirectional pumping structure is provided, including: a first pumping module 11, a reverse resonant cavity module 13, an optical shutter module 12 and a second pumping module 11' connected in sequence.

In the optical system constructed by the above modules, the second pump light L1 'emitted from the second pump module 11' and entering the reverse resonant cavity module 13 through the optical gate module 12 is gain-amplified in the resonant cavity together with the first pump light L1 emitted from the first pump module 11 to be signal light L2, and is reflected back to the optical gate module 12 along the original path in a reverse direction, and then is output in a light splitting manner, in a time-sharing manner, or in a light-splitting and time-sharing manner through different splitting channels.

The output power of the optical system constructed by bidirectional pumping is higher compared with the optical systems of the previous single-pumping structures.

In this embodiment, the first incident surface 1201a of the first switching element 1201 in the optical shutter module 12 may be configured to be fully transmissive, so that the incident second pump light L1' completely enters the reverse cavity module 13, and more complicated, the first incident surface may also be configured to be partially transmissive to the pump light L1, and at the same time partially reflective to the pump light L1, so that the reflected light of the first switching element 1201 includes the signal light L2 and the pump light L1 respectively reflected from two sides of the first switching element 1201.

Correspondingly, in addition to the second switching component 1202 disposed on the reflection optical path of the second incident surface 1201b of the first switching component 1201, the optical pumping system further includes another second switching component 1202 'disposed on the reflection optical path of the first incident surface 1201a, and the control of the second switching component 1202' can implement the split-beam output, the time-sharing output, or the split-beam time-sharing output of the reflected pump light L1, wherein at least one of the split channels can also be connected to and combined with the forward resonant cavity module 14, so as to convert the output split pump laser into other monochromatic laser.

In some embodiments, the first incident surface 1201a may be configured to select a desired type of incident surface, such as total transmission, partial reflection, or total reflection, by rotating a mirror or the like.

In other embodiments, the second switching component 1202 may be designed as a sub-module device that can be directly plugged and replaced, and the reconfiguration of the shunt channels inside the optical gate module 12 is realized by directly plugging and pulling the sub-module device on one side or both sides of the first switching component 1201, so that the number of the shunt channels of the output laser can be greatly expanded, and meanwhile, by matching with various types of resonant cavity modules, the selectable parameters of the output laser are enriched, thereby maximizing the reusability of a high-power laser.

Further, the shutter module 12 further includes: a driving device, connected to the first switching assembly 1201 and the second switching assembly 1202, which may be a rotating device or a sliding device (not shown), for driving the spectroscope or the reflective mirror to move or rotate to a specific position; and the controller is connected with the driving device and is used for controlling the first switching component 1201 and the second switching component 1202 driven by the driving device to adjust the type or the position of the incident surface of the lens and accurately switch the required laser beam to a specific output port in a time-sharing and shunting manner.

Further, the output port 1205 may be configured with optical fiber cables with different optical fiber parameters, and supports coupled and butted dual output heads or multiple output heads, etc. The core diameter of the coupled transmission fiber may be 50u-100u or more, provided that it is much larger than the core diameter of the resonator fiber, with sufficient margin to ensure fiber coupling efficiency and reliability of the shutter.

It should be noted that, in the above embodiments, the type selection of the adopted pump module, the type selection of the resonant cavity module, the type selection of the optical gate module, the parameters and the number of the adopted optical devices, the number of the input ports and the output ports, and the like can be matched and set according to the processing light beam in actual needs, and need not be restricted to the limitations of the above specific embodiments of the present invention.

Through the setting, a reconfigurable modularization optical system can support the user demand of multiple different wavelength laser, can share same laser platform, satisfy different customers' demand through different transmission optical fiber, in the course of working, can carry out external module change at any time according to the wavelength and the facula type that processing needs, and utilize the optic fibre output head of general double-clad optic fibre or many clad can pass the optic fibre, the compound laser of output multi-wavelength can directly get into the single channel multi-wavelength laser processing head of optimization, the utilization ratio and the convenience of laser instrument have been improved greatly.

The utility model relates to a reconfigurable modular optical system, the pumping source among the prior art and optical gate modularization combination are in the same place, have reduced light path, software and hardware and structural design that do not need for when the volume of device dwindles greatly, also make the response speed that the light path switches in-process software and hardware can improve greatly.

Through the expansion interface of the reconfigurable modular optical system, the accessed external module can be replaced at any time according to the wavelength and the light spot type required by processing, and the utilization rate and convenience of the laser are greatly improved.

Furthermore, the embodiment of the utility model also provides a reverse pumping structure laser instrument, including foretell reverse pumping structure's modular optical system.

Furthermore, the embodiment of the utility model also provides a forward pumping structure fiber laser, including the modular optical system of foretell forward pumping structure.

In addition, the embodiment of the utility model also provides a two-way pumping structure laser, including foretell two-way pumping structure's modular optical system.

The laser of this embodiment also has the above advantages because it includes the reconfigurable modular optical system, and thus, the detailed description thereof is omitted.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, and not to limit the same; within the idea of the invention, also technical features in the above embodiments or in different embodiments can be combined, steps can be implemented in any order, and there are many other variations of the different aspects of the invention as described above, which are not provided in detail for the sake of brevity; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some technical features may be equivalently replaced; such modifications or substitutions do not depart from the scope of the invention in its corresponding aspects.

Claims (10)

1. A reconfigurable modular optical system, comprising: the pump source module, the optical gate module and the resonant cavity module are respectively provided with at least one butt joint port, and the pump source module, the optical gate module and the resonant cavity module are connected in a combined manner through the butt joint ports, and can be directly plugged and pulled out, so that an optical system of a forward, reverse or bidirectional pumping structure can be constructed.

2. A reconfigurable modular optical system according to claim 1, wherein the pump source module is comprised of any one or more of a plurality of laser diode chips, bars, arrays, fiber-coupled modules.

3. A reconfigurable modular optical system according to claim 1, wherein the resonator module comprises any one or more of a reverse fibre resonator module, a forward fibre resonator module, a reverse solid resonator module and a forward solid resonator module.

4. A reconfigurable modular optical system according to claim 3, wherein the backward fiber resonator module or the forward fiber resonator module includes an active fiber, a high-reflectivity grating and a low-reflectivity grating, wherein the active fiber and the high-reflectivity grating and the low-reflectivity grating are combined and connected by direct plugging;

the reverse solid resonant cavity module or the forward solid resonant cavity module comprises a laser crystal and a frequency doubling crystal, and the laser crystal and the frequency doubling crystal can be connected through direct plugging.

5. A reconfigurable modular optical system according to claim 1, wherein the shutter module includes two docking ports for coupling into the pump source module and the cavity module and at least two output ports for time-sharing or beam-splitting output of one or more wavelengths of laser light.

6. A reconfigurable modular optical system according to claim 5, wherein the shutter module includes first and second switching assemblies that are directly pluggable and combinable.

7. A reconfigurable modular optical system according to claim 1, wherein the pump source module and the shutter module are both free-space optical modules, with fibre-less direct connections being made through docking ports.

8. A laser with a reverse pump structure, which is characterized by adopting the reconfigurable modular optical system as set forth in any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the optical system of the laser is formed by connecting a pump source module, an optical shutter module and a reverse resonant cavity module in sequence, the pump light emitted from the pump source module is emitted into the reverse resonant cavity module through the optical shutter, the reverse resonant cavity module is used for amplifying the gain of the emitted pump light into signal light and then reversely emitting the signal light into the optical shutter, and the optical shutter performs splitting, time-sharing or splitting time-sharing output on the incident light.

9. A forward pump structure laser, which employs the reconfigurable modular optical system of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the optical system of the laser is formed by sequentially connecting a pump source module, an optical shutter module and a forward cavity module, the forward cavity module is connected to an output port of the optical shutter, the pump light emitted from the pump source module enters the optical shutter, and the optical shutter performs optical splitting, time-sharing or optical splitting output on the pump light, wherein at least one path of output pump light enters the forward cavity module to gain and amplify into signal light.

10. A bi-directional pump structure laser, which employs the reconfigurable modular optical system of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the optical system of the laser is formed by sequentially connecting a first pump source module, a shutter module, a reverse cavity module and a second pump source module, the first pump light emitted from the first pump source module enters the reverse cavity module from a forward direction, the second pump light transmitted by the second pump source module through the shutter enters the reverse cavity module from a reverse direction, the reverse cavity module amplifies the gain of the first pump light and the second pump light to signal light and then enters the shutter along the reverse direction, and the shutter performs splitting, time sharing or splitting and time sharing output on the incident light.

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