JPH1123878A - Laser device and laser machining device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To output laser light of high output with high luminance while maintaining a stable single lateral mode. SOLUTION: A fiber bundle 100 of fibers for a double clad type fiber laser is used as a medium which excites laser light. The respective bundled fibers are each composed of a core which serves as a waveguide zone and contains laser active substance, a 1st clad which is provided around the core and has a refractive index lower than the core, and a 2nd clad which is provided around the 1st clad and has a lower refractive index than the 1st clad. A bundle part 102 is so bundled that the cores at the projection end are at fine intervals without being affected by the lateral mode. Sixteen LD(laser diode) 21 provided at the incidence end of the fiber bundle 100 for the exciting light are driven by a power unit 20 to output the exciting light 10 of 0.8 μm in wavelength. This exciting light 10 excites the laser active substance to generate the laser light 10a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser apparatus for outputting laser light and a laser processing apparatus for performing laser processing using a laser, and more particularly to a laser apparatus for exciting a laser with an optical fiber and performing laser processing with an optical fiber laser. The present invention relates to a laser processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the field of optical communication or laser processing, it is desired to develop a laser device with higher output and lower cost.
An optical fiber laser device is known as a device capable of satisfying this demand.

An optical fiber laser device has a core diameter and
By appropriately selecting the refractive index difference between the core and the clad, the transverse mode of laser oscillation can be made relatively simple. Further, by confining the light at a high density, the interaction between the laser active substance and the light can be enhanced. Further, since the interaction can be increased by increasing the length of the optical fiber, high-quality laser light can be generated with high efficiency. Because of these excellent properties, the use of an optical fiber laser device makes it possible to obtain high-quality laser light having a transverse mode that is not affected by the intensity of laser output, heat, vibration, and the like, at relatively low cost.

Here, in order to further increase the output or increase the efficiency of the optical fiber laser device, it is necessary to add laser-active ions or dyes to the optical fiber and other luminescent centers (hereinafter referred to as "laser-active substances"). It is necessary to efficiently introduce the excitation light into the region (usually the core). However, usually, when the core diameter is set so as to satisfy the single mode waveguide condition, the core diameter is limited to ten and several μm or less. Therefore, it is generally difficult to efficiently introduce the excitation light into the core diameter. As a means for overcoming this, a so-called double clad fiber laser has been proposed (for example, see H. Zellmer, U. Willamowski, A. Tunnermann, a.
nd H. Welling, Optics Letters.Vol.20, No.6, pp.578-58
0, March, 1995. ").

[0005] In the double clad type fiber laser, a first clad having a lower refractive index than the core is provided around the core.
A second clad having a lower refractive index is provided on the outside thereof. Thus, the pump light introduced into the first clad propagates while being confined in the first clad by total reflection due to a difference in refractive index between the first clad and the second clad. During this propagation, the excitation light repeatedly passes through the core, and excites the laser active substance contained in the core. In the case of this double clad type fiber laser, the excitation light may be introduced into the first clad. In addition, the first cladding has a cross-sectional area of several hundred to 1,000 times that of the core. Therefore, it becomes possible to introduce more pumping light, and high output can be achieved.

As described above, the double clad type fiber laser has the advantages of high oscillation efficiency, a single oscillation transverse mode and stability, and is therefore a laser for processing such as fine cutting and fine welding. As having a high ability.

[0007]

However, the double clad type fiber laser has an increased laser output due to an increase in loss due to nonlinear effects such as Brillouin scattering and Raman scattering at the core and damage to the core due to strong light. Is limited. With currently available core materials, the power of double clad fiber lasers is limited to tens of watts to hundreds of tens of watts.

An intuitive means for overcoming this drawback is to increase the core diameter. However, if the core diameter of the fiber laser is increased, the transverse mode of laser oscillation becomes multimode. Problems arise. With multi-mode, the stability of the transverse mode, one of the advantages of the fiber laser, is lost. Then, the transverse mode of the laser output changes due to the intensity of the output and slight changes in the vibration or shape of the fiber. As a result, for example, in laser processing, there is a problem that the light intensity distribution at the focal point becomes unstable.

Therefore, as another method for compensating for the drawbacks of the double clad type fiber laser, it is conceivable to use a fiber bundle (a bundle of fibers). This is because if a plurality of single transverse mode fiber lasers are bundled, the output can be increased by the number of bundles.

However, when a plurality of single transverse mode fiber lasers are simply bundled, a cladding portion (about 100 times in diameter) much larger than the core is attached to each core portion. Even when the bundle is used for a laser device, there is a problem that the cores, which are light emitting points, are scattered in a wide space, and the luminance is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a laser device capable of outputting a high-luminance, high-output laser beam while maintaining a stable single transverse mode. I do.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a laser processing apparatus capable of performing laser processing with high-intensity laser light while maintaining a stable single transverse mode.

[0013]

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in a laser device for outputting laser light, the laser device includes a laser light propagation path and a laser active substance. A plurality of waveguide regions arranged close to each other at a minimum interval where the transverse modes of the propagating laser light do not affect each other, and provided around the plurality of waveguide regions; A laser device comprising: a cladding region having a low refractive index; and an excitation unit for exciting the laser active material.

According to this laser device, when the laser active substance in the waveguide region is excited by the excitation means, a single transverse mode laser beam is generated. The generated laser light is totally reflected between the waveguide region and the cladding region, and is output as a bundle of high-density laser light from the emission ends of the plurality of waveguide regions.

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above problems, in a laser processing apparatus for performing processing by laser light, the laser processing apparatus includes a laser light propagation path and a laser active material, and the laser light is transmitted at an emission end of the laser light. A plurality of waveguide regions arranged close to each other at a minimum interval where the transverse modes of the laser light do not affect each other, provided around the plurality of waveguide regions, and lower than the plurality of waveguide regions. A laser processing apparatus is provided, comprising: a cladding region having a refractive index; an exciting unit for exciting the laser active substance; and a condensing unit for condensing a laser beam emitted from the waveguide region. You.

According to this laser processing apparatus, when the laser active substance in the waveguide region is excited by the exciting means, a plurality of laser beams in a single transverse mode are generated. The generated laser light is totally reflected between the waveguide region and the cladding region, and is output as a bundle of high-density laser light from the emission end of the waveguide region. The outputted bundle of laser beams is collected by the light collecting means.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a laser device of the present invention. This laser apparatus uses a fiber bundle 100 in which 16 fibers for a double clad fiber laser are bundled as a medium for exciting laser light. Each bundled fiber is provided with a core serving as a waveguide region, a first clad provided around the core, having a lower refractive index than the core, and provided around the first clad, and having a refractive index higher than the first clad. And a lower second cladding.

Excitation light 10 is incident on the incident end of the fiber bundle 100 on the side of the separation section 101 where the fibers are separated, and laser light 10a is output from the exit end of the bundle section 102 on which the fibers are bundled. Bundle unit 1
Numerals 02 are bundled such that the spacing between the cores at the emission ends is small as long as the influence of the transverse mode is not exerted on each other. In addition, since it is necessary to make the direction of the light beam emitted from the fiber uniform, each core is parallel within a range of 1 cm from the emission end.

Further, 16 laser diodes (hereinafter, referred to as “LD”) 21 are provided at the excitation light incident end of the fiber bundle 100. LD21 is a power supply device 2
0, and outputs the excitation light 10 having a wavelength of 0.8 μm. The pump light 10 output from the LD 21 propagates in the fiber while repeating total reflection at the boundary between the first clad and the second clad in the fiber bundle 100. Then, when the excitation light passes through the core during propagation, the laser active substance is excited, and laser light is generated.
All the energy of the excitation light is converted into laser light before reaching the emission end, and only the laser light 10a is output from the emission end.

In the 16 laser beams 10a output from this apparatus, the transverse mode of the laser output does not change due to the intensity of the laser output, heat or vibration, or slight displacement of the fiber. That is, it has an extremely stable transverse mode. In addition, since the light is output from a plurality of cores arranged at a high density, the brightness is about the same as the upper limit of the optical fiber laser. Further, since a plurality of laser beams are bundled and emitted, a significantly larger laser output than a single optical fiber laser is possible.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the incident end of the excitation light of the fiber bundle. 16 fibers 110a to 110
At the center of p, cores 111a to 111p which are waveguide regions
There is. The cores 111a to 111p are doped with a laser active material. First clads 112a to 112p are provided around the cores 111a to 111p.
The first claddings 112a to 112p are
The refractive index is lower than 11p. First cladding 112a-1
The second claddings 113a to 113p are provided around 12p. The second claddings 113a to 113p are
The refractive index is lower than the first claddings 112a to 112p.

Then, the excitation light 11 for exciting the laser active substance contained in the fiber 110a is made incident on the first cladding 112a. Similarly, the excitation light is also incident on the first clad of another fiber.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a laser beam emitting end of the fiber bundle. At the output end of the fiber bundle 100, 16 cores 111a to 111p are arranged at a central portion at a small interval. Each core 111a-
111p secures a sufficient interval so that the transverse modes of laser oscillation between adjacent cores do not affect each other, and
They are arranged as densely as possible.

Here, the distance at which the transverse modes do not affect each other is determined by the evanescent wave of the laser oscillation wavelength. The evanescent wave is light that leaks toward the first clad when laser light propagating through the core is totally reflected between the core and the first clad. The intensity of the evanescent wave decreases as the distance from the boundary between the core and the first cladding increases. When a high-energy evanescent wave enters another adjacent core, the laser beams affect each other and the state of the single transverse mode is broken.

Therefore, in order to maintain the state of the single transverse mode, the intensity of the evanescent wave at the boundary between the core and the first clad is used as a reference value. The cores need to be adjacent to each other at intervals longer than the distance at which the attenuation occurs twice. However,
If the length of the region where the cores are adjacent (bundle portion 102) is within 10,000 times the laser wavelength, the cores are adjacent to each other at a shorter interval than the distance at which the evanescent wave attenuates to 0.9 times the reference value. The horizontal modes do not affect each other. Therefore, if the length of the bundle portion 102 is set within 10,000 times the laser wavelength, the core can be made closer. In this case, the cores may be in close contact with each other.

If the cores are too far apart, the emitted light will be scattered over a wide range, as in the case where the fibers are simply bundled, and the intensity of the emitted light per unit area can be increased. Will be gone. Therefore, it is desirable that the cores are adjacent to each other at an interval shorter than the distance at which the intensity of the evanescent wave becomes 0.01 times the reference value.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the core interval and the mode change rate. In this figure, the horizontal axis represents the core interval (μ
m), and the vertical axis represents the mode change rate. Here, the rate of change of the mode indicates the rate of change of the intensity of the oscillation transverse mode when the state where the core is in close contact is set to 1. As can be seen from this figure, the rate of change of the mode is
In the range of less than m, the intensity sharply decreases as the core interval increases, and when the core interval becomes 2 μm, the change in the intensity of the oscillation transverse mode becomes small. When the core interval is 12 μm or more, the intensity of the oscillation transverse mode hardly changes.

Next, a method for manufacturing a fiber bundle used in the laser device of the present invention will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the first half of the manufacturing process of the fiber bundle. In addition,
In this figure, the boundary between the first clad and the second clad is not shown. In the following description, the first clad and the second clad will be simply referred to as “cladding”. [S1] Glass V not shown with fiber 110a
The groove is fixed with an adhesive and attached to a dicing saw which is a fiber clad grinding device. [S2] Using a dicing saw, 5
The cladding is scraped away leaving a distance of μm. [S3] The fiber 110b whose cladding has been ground in the same procedure as in steps S1 and S2 is attached to the fiber 11b with an adhesive.
0a. [S4] The clad is cut away leaving 5 μm from the core 111b. [S5] The fiber 110c whose cladding has been ground in the same procedure as in steps S1 and S2 is bonded to the fiber 11c with an adhesive.
0b. [S6] The clad is cut away leaving 5 μm from the core 111c. [S7] The fiber 110d whose cladding has been ground in the same procedure as in steps S1 and S2 is bonded to the fiber 11d with an adhesive.
Adhere to 0c.

Thus, a one-dimensional fiber array can be produced. Then, four similar one-dimensional fiber arrays are made in total. The reason for alternately performing the grinding of the clad and the bonding of the fiber in this way is to perform the processing while maintaining the mechanical strength of the fiber by grinding the clad little by little.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the latter half of the fiber bundle manufacturing process. In this step, a two-dimensional fiber array is created based on the one-dimensional fiber array. [S11] The fiber array 100a is fixed to a glass V-groove (not shown) using an adhesive, and attached to a dicing saw. [S12] Using a dicing saw, cores 111a-1
The cladding is scraped away leaving a distance of 5 μm from 11d. [S13] The fiber array 100b whose cladding has been ground in the same procedure as in steps S11 and S12 is bonded to the fiber array 100a with an adhesive. [S14] The clad is cut away leaving 5 μm from the cores 111e to 111h. [S15] The fiber array 100c whose cladding has been ground in the same procedure as in steps S11 and S12 is bonded to the fiber array 100b with an adhesive. [S16] The clad is cut away leaving 5 μm from the cores 111i to 111l. [S17] The fiber array 100d whose cladding has been ground in the same procedure as in steps S11 and S12 is bonded to the fiber array 100c with an adhesive.

Thus, the output side of the double clad type fiber is bundled as a two-dimensional fiber array. By using the fiber bundle created in this way for a fiber laser device, a high-power laser device can be obtained.

In the above description, the fibers are bonded with an adhesive when the fibers are bundled. However, the fibers may be fused and bundled. In the above description, a one-dimensional fiber array is created by bundling the fibers one by one, and the fiber bundle of the present invention is created by bundling the one-dimensional fiber array. If there is no problem, all the fibers may be finely cut and then bundled at once.

In the above-mentioned fiber bundle, the cores are arranged vertically and horizontally in a straight line. However, by changing the arrangement, the cores can be bundled at a higher density. An example of such a fiber bundle is described below.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of fiber bundles arranged at higher density. This figure shows the emission end of the laser light. In the fiber bundle 30, three cores 31a to 31c are vertically arranged in the first column from the left in the drawing. In the second column on the right side, the four cores 31d to 31d
g are arranged vertically. The interval between the cores 31d to 31g in the second row is the same as the interval between the cores 31a to 31c in the first row, and the uppermost core 31d and the lowermost core 31g in the second row.
Is the same height as the central core 31b in the first row.

Similarly, in the third row, five cores 31h to 3h
11 are arranged, and the fourth column has four cores 31m to 31p.
Are arranged, and three cores 31q to 31s are arranged in the fifth column.

A method for manufacturing such a fiber bundle 30 will be described below. Note that the steps (shown in FIG. 5) until the one-dimensional fiber array is created are the same as those in the first embodiment, and thus description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a manufacturing process of a fiber bundle arranged at higher density. [S21] A one-dimensional fiber array 30a in which three fibers are bundled is fixed to a glass V-groove (not shown) using an adhesive, and attached to a dicing saw. [S22] Using a dicing saw, a predetermined position is set as a vertex, and the cladding is cut off at a vertex angle of 120 degrees. [S23] A predetermined position of the clad is cut off in the same procedure as in step S22. [S24] The four fibers are bundled, and steps S22 and S23 are performed.
The one-dimensional fiber array 30b from which the cladding has been cut off in the same manner as described above is bonded to the fiber array 30a. [S25] A predetermined position of the clad is cut off in the same procedure as in steps S22 and S23. [S26] Five fibers are bundled, and steps S22 and S23 are performed.
The one-dimensional fiber array 30c from which the cladding has been removed by the same method as described above is bonded to the fiber array 30b. [S27] Thereafter, similarly, the fiber array 30d in which four fibers are bundled and the fiber array 30e in which three fibers are bundled are sequentially bonded.

Thus, it is possible to produce a fiber bundle in which the output end cores are arranged at a higher density.
In the above description, the case where the double clad type fiber to be used for the fiber laser is directly bundled has been described. However, a portion where the core is brought close to and a portion which excites the laser light may be separately formed. In this case, the cores at the emission end can be arranged at high density by drawing.
An example of such a fiber bundle is described below.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the first half of the fiber bundle manufacturing process by drawing. [S31] First, a plurality of preforms (glass base material before being drawn) are simply bundled by bonding (or fusing) with an adhesive to form a fiber bundle 40. This preform is not of a double clad type, but comprises a core for transmitting laser light and a clad provided around the core. The core is not doped with a material for laser excitation. The end faces 41 and 42 on both sides of the fiber bundle 40 have the same size. [S32] One end of the fiber bundle 40 is drawn.
Thus, the fiber bundle 40 gradually becomes thinner from the end face 41 to the end face 42, and the end face 42 is reduced.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the latter half of the fiber bundle manufacturing process by drawing. [S33] A fiber bundle 50 is prepared by bundling a double clad type fiber in which a core is doped with a laser active substance. The end face 41 of the fiber bundle 40 matches the end face 51 of the fiber bundle 50, and the two fiber bundles are connected. The connection is made by existing optical fiber connection technology such as bonding, fusion, and butt.

Thus, the fiber bundle used in the laser device of the present invention can be created by drawing. In this way, by bringing the cores close to each other by drawing, a fiber bundle for generating a single transverse mode laser beam with high output and high brightness can be easily created.

In the above description of the method for manufacturing each fiber bundle, the fiber bundle according to the present invention was manufactured by cutting or drawing a predetermined area from the end of the fiber. To the middle portion of the fiber. That is, the intermediate portions of the fibers are bundled by grinding or stretching. Then, by cutting near the center of the bundled portion, two fiber bundles of the present invention can be simultaneously formed.

Next, the difference in brightness between a case where a fiber bundle in which fibers are simply bundled and used in a laser device and a case where a fiber bundle in which the above-described cores are arranged close to each other is used in a laser device will be considered. I do.

Now, the core diameter is 10 μm (single transverse mode),
First cladding diameter 900 μm, second cladding diameter 1000 μm
Consider a double-clad fiber laser device using a m laser medium. In this fiber laser device, the laser light excited by the LD is incident on the double clad type fiber as the excitation light. When 150 W is obtained as the output of the upper limit at which the loss is not remarkable due to the nonlinear effect when excited by the LD, the luminance P1 becomes

[0045]

P1 = 150 W / 7.85 × 10 ⁻⁷ = about 191 MW / cm ² (1)

The brightness P2 of a laser device in which a plurality of such single transverse mode fiber lasers are simply bundled is as follows. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a laser light emitting end of a laser device in which a plurality of fibers are simply bundled. The fiber bundle 60 shown in FIG.
Are bundled. Each fiber 61 is provided with a core at the center. The diameter of the core is about 10 μm. A first cladding having a diameter of 900 μm is provided around the core. Around the first cladding, a diameter of 1 mm (10
(00 μm).

If 19 fibers 61 are arranged as shown in the figure, the laser output is 19.times.
Although 85 kW can be obtained, the diameter of the light emitting region 62 is about 4 mm. Therefore, the luminance P2 is

[0048]

P2 = output / area of light emitting region = 150 W × 19 / 1.256 × 10 ⁻¹ = about 22.7 kW / cm ² (2)

As can be seen by comparing this result with the result of equation (1), the luminance is significantly reduced as compared with the case of a single fiber. That is, it means that the light condensing property important for laser processing has been significantly reduced. The reason is that when a single transverse mode fiber laser is simply bundled, the average output can be increased by the number of bundles, but a much larger cladding (100 times in diameter) than each core has This is because the core which is a light emitting point is scattered in a wide space.

Therefore, consider a case where fibers of output 150 W are bundled by the fiber bundle of the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an arrangement of cores at a laser light emitting end of the laser device of the present invention. In the fiber bundle 70 shown in this figure, 19 cores 71 having a core diameter of 10 μm have 1 core.
They are arranged at intervals of 0 μm. Then, the diameter of the 19 laser light emitting regions 72 is 90 μm.

As a result, the laser output is 2.85 kW, which is 19 times that of a single fiber, and the average luminance P3 is:

[0052]

P3 = output / area of light emitting region = 150 W × 19 / 6.3585 × 10 ⁻⁵ = about 45 MW / cm ² (3) Therefore, the average brightness is much higher than when the fibers are simply bundled.

By using such a laser device as a laser processing device, high-precision processing can be performed at high speed. When the optical fiber laser device using the fiber bundle of the present invention is used in a laser processing device, a processing head is provided on the laser beam output side of the fiber bundle. A condensing lens is provided in the processing head, so that the laser light can be condensed on the work. An auxiliary gas is introduced into the processing head, and the auxiliary gas is ejected from the tip of the processing head. As the auxiliary gas, a shielding gas for preventing oxidation, a plasma processing gas for removing generated plasma, or the like is used. Further, the laser processing apparatus is provided with a table on which the work is placed and a servomotor for moving the table. Then, precise processing can be performed by controlling the laser output, the position of the work, and the like with a numerical controller or the like.

[0054]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a laser device embodying the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 will be described below.

Here, the core diameter is 10 μm, the first cladding diameter is 900 μm, the second cladding diameter is 1000 μm, and the length is 50 μm.
A fiber bundle was prepared using 16 double-clad fibers of m. 0.5 at for the fiber core
% Of Nd ³⁺ ions. Quartz glass was used as a fiber base material.

The incident end of the pumping light is polished flat so that the pumping light can be efficiently inputted, and a multilayer having a transmittance of 95% or more at 0.8 μm of pumping light and a reflectance of 98% or more at a laser oscillation wavelength of 1.06 μm. A film coat has been applied. At the emission end of the laser beam, the fibers are bundled and the core is 10μ.
m.

Although the total length of the fiber is shortened in FIG. 1 for convenience, there is actually a length of 50 m per fiber. Since the optical fiber has excellent flexibility as is well known, the optical fiber is wound around a bobbin (not shown) having a diameter of about 20 cm.

When the apparatus using this laser bundle was excited using 16 LDs having an oscillation wavelength of 0.8 μm and an output of 20 W, a laser beam having a wavelength of 1.06 μm and an output of 120 W was obtained.

The output of this laser device is set to a focal length of 50 mm.
As a result, 90% or more of the output energy could be collected within a diameter of 50 μm. The condensing diameter of a general large-output YAG (Yttrium Aluminum Garnet) laser is 500 μm or more under the same conditions, so that the condensing diameter is 1/10 or less. Since the energy density at the focal point is inversely proportional to the area of the focal point, it is possible to generate an energy density 100 times or more as compared with a general high-output YAG laser. Moreover, the focusing diameter of this laser device is
Since the laser output is always constant regardless of the state of the laser output and heat, stable laser processing is possible.

In this example, the LD prepared for excitation is
The output value was only 120 W due to the low power, but this output value is not the limit of this laser device. Increasing the output of the excitation light can further increase the output of the laser device, and the upper limit is considered to be 2 kW or more.

[0061]

As described above, in the laser device according to the present invention, the core at the emission end of the laser beam is arranged close to the laser oscillation transverse mode so as not to affect each other. And high-power laser light with high luminance can be obtained.

Further, in the laser processing apparatus of the present invention, the core at the emission end of the laser beam is arranged close to the laser oscillation transverse mode so as not to affect each other.
Since laser processing using a laser beam having a stable lateral mode and high luminance and high output is enabled, high-precision laser processing can be performed at high speed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a laser device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of an incident end of excitation light of a fiber bundle.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a laser beam emission end of a fiber bundle.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a core interval and a mode change rate.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a first half of a fiber bundle manufacturing process.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the latter half of the manufacturing process of the fiber bundle.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of fiber bundles arranged at higher density.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a manufacturing process of fiber bundles arranged at higher density.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a first half of a fiber bundle manufacturing process by drawing.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the latter half of the manufacturing process of the fiber bundle by drawing.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an emission end of laser light of a laser device in which a plurality of fibers are simply bundled.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an arrangement of cores at a laser light emitting end of the laser device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Excitation light 10a Laser light 20 Power supply device 21 Laser diode (LD) 100 Fiber bundle 101 Separation part 102 Bundle part

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A laser device for outputting laser light, comprising a laser light propagation path and a laser active material, and a laser light emitting end having a minimum distance at which transverse modes of propagating laser light do not affect each other. A plurality of waveguide regions arranged in close proximity to each other; a cladding region provided around the plurality of waveguide regions and having a lower refractive index than the plurality of waveguide regions; and exciting the laser active material. A laser device comprising: 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cladding region is provided around the plurality of waveguide regions within a certain range from an incident end of the waveguide region, and has a lower refractive index than the plurality of waveguide regions.
A second cladding region provided around the first cladding region and having a lower refractive index than the first cladding region. 2. The laser device according to claim 1, wherein the laser active material is excited by inputting excitation light to the laser beam. 3. A laser device for outputting laser light, comprising a laser light propagation path and a laser active material, and at a laser light emitting end, a minimum distance at which transverse modes of the propagating laser light do not affect each other. A plurality of cores arranged in close proximity to each other, a fiber bundle provided around the plurality of cores and comprising a cladding having a lower refractive index than the plurality of cores, and to an incident end of the fiber bundle, A laser device, comprising: an excitation unit that emits excitation light for exciting the laser active substance. 4. The fiber bundle, wherein a cladding within a certain range from an input end is provided around the plurality of cores, wherein the first cladding has a lower refractive index than the plurality of cores; And a second clad having a refractive index lower than that of the first clad, wherein the pumping means makes pump light incident on the first clad at an incident end. The laser device according to claim 3, wherein 5. A laser processing apparatus for performing processing by using a laser beam, wherein the laser beam includes a laser light propagation path and a laser active material, and at a laser light emitting end, a transverse mode of the propagating laser beam does not influence each other. A plurality of waveguide regions arranged close to each other at an interval; a cladding region provided around the plurality of waveguide regions and having a lower refractive index than the plurality of waveguide regions; A laser processing apparatus, comprising: an excitation unit that excites a laser beam; and a light-collecting unit that collects laser light emitted from the waveguide region.