KR102289331B1 - Apparatus for Guide Beam Laser and Laser Beam Combiner including the same - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a guide beam device and a laser beam combiner including the same.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, in a laser beam combiner of a fiber laser, a plurality of input optical fibers for irradiating a laser beam emitted from a fiber laser engine, the plurality of input optical fibers formed in the center as the plurality of input optical fibers are combined in a predetermined shape It is disposed in the inner space, and provides a laser beam combiner comprising a guide beam optical fiber and a guide beam oscillator for guiding the guide beam so that the guide beam is incident into the interior of the optical fiber laser.

Description

Apparatus for Guide Beam Laser and Laser Beam Combiner including the same

The present invention relates to a laser beam combiner that combines a high-power laser beam output from a fiber laser engine, and can visually check a movement path of light inside a fiber laser.

The content described in this section merely provides background information for the present embodiment and does not constitute the prior art.

Recently, processing technology using a laser has been developed in various industries, and accordingly, a fiber laser with excellent beam quality and excellent price competitiveness is in the spotlight. In particular, while the loss of the light source is small, the demand for a high-power fiber laser capable of obtaining a high output is increasing.

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conventional fiber laser.

The conventional fiber laser 100 includes a pump module 110 , a fiber laser engine 120 , and a laser beam combiner 130 .

The pump module 110 combines a signal beam and a plurality of pump beams into one and emits them to the fiber laser engine 120 . The signal beam and the plurality of pump beams are combined by a pump beam combiner (not shown), and the pump beam combiner may be configured in the form of the number of pump light sources (not shown) (n) × output (1).

The optical fiber laser engine 120 selectively amplifies the pump beam incident from the pump module 110 using an optical fiber Bragg grating (not shown) and a gain medium optical fiber (not shown), and then emits it to the laser beam combiner 130 . do. The fiber laser engine 120 may be configured in plurality, and has an output value of about 1 kW per unit fiber laser engine 120 .

The laser beam combiner 130 combines the laser beams output from the plurality of fiber laser engines 120 into one. As described above, since one fiber laser engine 120 has an output value of about 1 kW, when the fiber laser engine 120 is composed of three or more, the fiber laser 100 by the laser beam combiner 130 The output value of can be improved to 3kW or more. The structure of the laser beam combiner 130 will be described with reference to FIG. 2 .

2 is a view showing the structure of a conventional laser beam combiner.

The conventional laser beam combiner 130 includes a first input optical fiber 210 , a second input optical fiber 220 , and a third input optical fiber 230 .

The laser beam combiner 130 may be configured in the form of the number (n) × output (1) of the fiber laser engines 120 , and combines the laser beams output from the plurality of fiber laser engines 120 into one.

The first input optical fiber 210 , the second input optical fiber 220 , and the third input optical fiber 230 inject the laser beams output from the plurality of optical fiber laser engines 120 into the cores 212 , 222 , and 232 to external output as

In this way, the laser beam combiner 130 provides a laser beam of high power by combining the laser beams output from the plurality of fiber laser engines 120 .

Although the high-power fiber laser has a high output value, a phenomenon in which the output light returns to the input part of the fiber laser may occur due to unintentional retro-reflection. The output light reflected back in this way (hereinafter, abbreviated as 'reflected light') flows into the optical fiber amplifier or resonator in the optical fiber laser, thereby reducing the output amplification efficiency of the optical fiber laser system. Moreover, since the reflected light has a high peak output, when it enters the amplifier or resonator, it may damage the laser light source and the laser engine.

Moreover, the structure of the conventional laser beam combiner 130 has a limitation in that it cannot sense reflected light. In addition, when a separate monitoring device capable of detecting reflected light is attached to the laser beam combiner 130 and used, there is a problem in that the volume of the device increases.

On the other hand, since the light moving inside the fiber laser 100 has a wavelength in the infrared (IR) band, its output is difficult to identify with the naked eye. Accordingly, by changing the structure of the conventional laser beam combiner 130, it is required to develop a fiber laser capable of detecting reflected light and simultaneously checking the movement of light output from the fiber laser with the naked eye.

An embodiment of the present invention has an object to provide a guide beam device for combining a laser beam output from a fiber laser engine into one, and a laser beam combiner including the same.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a guide beam device capable of visually confirming a movement path of light output from a fiber laser and a laser beam combiner including the same.

According to one aspect of the present invention, in a laser beam combiner of a fiber laser, a plurality of input optical fibers for irradiating a laser beam emitted from a fiber laser engine, and an inner formed in the center as the plurality of input optical fibers are combined in a predetermined shape It provides a laser beam combiner comprising a guide beam optical fiber and a guide beam oscillator disposed in space and guiding the guide beam so that the guide beam is incident into the optical fiber laser.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the guide beam optical fiber includes a core and a clad, and the core guides the guide beam emitted from the guide beam oscillator to the optical fiber laser.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the guide beam oscillator is coupled to the guide beam optical fiber.

As described above, according to one aspect of the present invention, by combining the laser beams output from the fiber laser engine into one, there is an advantage in that it is possible to provide a high-power laser beam required for processing technology.

In addition, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is an advantage in that the movement of light output from the fiber laser can be visually confirmed by using the guide beam providing module connected to the laser beam combiner.

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conventional fiber laser.
2 is a view showing the structure of a conventional laser beam combiner.
3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a fiber laser according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a stereoscopic view of a laser beam combiner according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A' of FIG. 4 .
6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB′ of FIG. 4 .
7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line C-C' of FIG. 4 .
8 is a view showing the configuration of a guide beam device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Since the present invention can have various changes and can have various embodiments, specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to a specific embodiment, it should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention. In describing each figure, like reference numerals have been used for like elements.

Terms such as first, second, A, and B may be used to describe various elements, but the elements should not be limited by the terms. The above terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, a first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, a second component may also be referred to as a first component. and/or includes a combination of a plurality of related listed items or any of a plurality of related listed items.

When a component is referred to as being “connected” or “connected” to another component, it is understood that the other component may be directly connected or connected to the other component, but other components may exist in between. it should be On the other hand, when it is said that a certain element is "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that no other element is present in the middle.

The terms used in the present application are only used to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present invention. The singular expression includes the plural expression unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It should be understood that terms such as “comprise” or “have” in the present application do not preclude the possibility of addition or existence of features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof described in the specification in advance. .

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs.

Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning in the context of the related art, and should not be interpreted in an ideal or excessively formal meaning unless explicitly defined in the present application. does not

3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a fiber laser according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The fiber laser 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a pump module 310 , a fiber laser engine 320 , a laser beam combiner 330 , and a guide beam device 340 .

The pump module 310 includes a signal light source 312 , a pump light source 314 , a connecting optical fiber (not shown) and a pump beam combiner 316 .

The pump module 310 oscillates a signal beam and a pump beam using a plurality of light emitting devices. The oscillated signal beam and pump beam are transmitted to a connecting optical fiber, and are combined by a pump beam combiner 316 .

The signal light source 312 oscillates a signal beam and makes it incident on the fiber laser engine 320 . The signal light source 312 may be implemented as a laser diode, which is a semiconductor light emitting device, but is not limited thereto.

The pump light source 314 oscillates the pump beam and transmits it to the connecting optical fiber. The pump light source 314 may be implemented in the form of a plurality of laser diodes, but is not limited thereto. Pump beams oscillated from a plurality of laser diodes are combined by a pump beam combiner 316 and are incident on a fiber laser engine 320 .

The pump beam combiner 316 combines the signal beam and the plurality of pump beams generated from the signal light source 312 and the pump light source 314 . Typically, the pump beam coupler 316 may be configured of an optical fiber, and the optical fiber is configured in the form of the number of pump light sources 314 (n)×output (1).

The fiber laser engine 320 includes a fiber Bragg grating FBG 322 and a gain medium optical fiber 324 .

The fiber laser engine 320 injects the pump beam combined into one by the pump beam combiner 316 . The fiber laser engine 320 amplifies the incident pump beam and transmits it to the laser beam combiner 330 . The fiber laser engine 320 may have an output value of about 1 kW and may be configured in plurality.

The optical fiber Bragg grating 322 is a refractive index change pattern formed in the optical fiber core, and selectively reflects or transmits only a specific wavelength of the pump beam. The pump beam amplified by the fiber Bragg grating 322 is coupled or absorbed at the fiber core.

The gain medium optical fiber 324 is a gain medium of the pump light source 314 and may include a structure that selectively amplifies only a specific wavelength of the pump beam generated by the pump light source 314 . The gain medium optical fiber 324 is coupled to the output end of the pump beam combiner 316 and includes a core (not shown) and a cladding (not shown). The gain medium optical fiber 324 may be an active optical fiber including a core made of a silica material to which a rare earth is added, but is not limited thereto.

The laser beam combiner 330 combines the laser beams output from the plurality of fiber laser engines 320 into one, and outputs a high-power laser beam to the outside. At the same time, the laser beam combiner 330 includes a guide beam optical fiber (not shown) to guide the guide beam emitted from the guide beam device 340 into the optical fiber laser 300 . Since the wavelength of the light oscillated by the pump module 310 is in the infrared region, there is a inconvenience in that the movement path of the light output from the fiber laser 300 is not visually confirmed. Accordingly, the laser beam combiner 330 uses the guide beam device 340 to oscillate the guide beam in the visible region into the guide beam optical fiber, thereby guiding the guide beam into the fiber laser 300, so that the user Make sure you can see this moving path.

The laser beam combiner 330 may be configured in the form of the number (n) of the fiber laser engines 320 + the guide beam optical fiber (1), but is not limited thereto, and the number (n) of the fiber laser engines 320 or The structure can be changed according to the number of guide beam optical fibers. A detailed description of the structure of the laser beam combiner 330 will be described later with reference to FIGS. 4 to 7 .

The guide beam device 340 is connected to the end of the guide beam optical fiber, and oscillates light in the visible region with the guide beam optical fiber. Since the guide beam device 340 outputs light in the visible light region to the guide beam optical fiber, the guide beam device 340 enables the movement of light output from the fiber laser 300 to be visually confirmed. The configuration of the guide beam device 340 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 8 .

4 is a three-dimensional view of a laser beam combiner according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A' of FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B' of FIG. And FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line C-C' of FIG. 4 .

As shown in FIG. 4 , the laser beam combiner 330 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an input unit 410 , a splicing unit 420 , and an output unit 430 .

The laser beam combiner 330 may be implemented in the form of a heterogeneous optical fiber. As the laser beam combiner 330 is implemented in the form of a heterogeneous optical fiber, the structures of the input unit 410 and the output unit 430 of the laser beam combiner 330 are different.

The input unit 410 guides the laser beam output from the fiber laser engine 320 and transmits it to the output unit 430 . In addition, as will be described later with reference to FIG. 5 , the input unit 410 includes the guide beam optical fiber 540 to guide the guide beam output from the guide beam device 340 into the optical fiber laser 300 .

The outside of the input unit 410 is surrounded and protected by the capillary tube 415 . The capillary tube 415 may be made of a thermoplastic plastic, but is not limited thereto.

The rear end of the input unit 410 is implemented in a bundle shape by a tapering process, and is coupled to the front end of the output unit 430 by a splicing unit 420 .

Furthermore, although not shown in the drawings, the laser beam combiner 330 may include a temperature sensor (not shown) at the rear end of the input unit 410 . Since the laser beam coupler 330 includes a temperature sensor, it is possible to detect overheating caused by the laser beam. The laser beam combiner 330 is provided with a separate temperature monitoring device (not shown) connected to the temperature sensor, so that the fiber laser 300 is not damaged by heat.

Referring to FIG. 5 , the input unit 410 includes a first input optical fiber 510 , a second input optical fiber 520 , a third input optical fiber 530 , and a guide beam optical fiber 540 .

As described above, the input unit 410 receives the laser beams output from the plurality of fiber laser engines 320 and transmits the received laser beams to the output unit 430 . The outer diameter of the cross section of A-A' of the input unit 410 may be configured to be around 860 μm, and the inner diameter may be configured to be around 500 μm, but is not limited thereto.

The input unit 410 receives the laser beams oscillated from the plurality of fiber laser engines 320 and guides them to the output unit. The input unit 410 may be formed to have different sizes of the front end and the rear end by a tapering process, and the rear end of the input unit 410 may be combined with the front end of the output unit by a splicing unit (not shown).

The input unit 410 includes a first input optical fiber 510 , a second input optical fiber 520 , a third input optical fiber 530 , and a guide beam optical fiber 540 .

The first input optical fiber 510 , the second input optical fiber 520 , and the third input optical fiber 530 incident the laser beams emitted from the plurality of optical fiber laser engines 320 to the cores 1012 , 1022 , and 1032 , respectively. and guides it to the output of the laser beam combiner 330 .

The guide beam optical fiber 540 guides the laser beam oscillated from the guide beam device 340 into the optical fiber laser 300 . The guide beam optical fiber 540 includes a core (not shown) and a clad (not shown), and the guide beam moves along the core of the guide beam optical fiber 540 . As the guide beam optical fiber 540 guides the guide beam into the optical fiber laser 300 , light in the visible region moves inside the optical fiber laser 300 .

The guide beam optical fiber 540 is inserted into a space of about 80 μm formed in the center according to the shape in which the first input optical fiber 510, the second input optical fiber 520, and the third input optical fiber 530 are typically arranged. . The guide beam optical fiber 540 extends and extends in the opposite direction from which the laser beam is output from the laser beam combiner 330 , and the guide beam device 340 is coupled to the end of the guide beam optical fiber 540 .

The guide beam optical fiber 540 may be configured in plurality. That is, the guide beam optical fiber 540 may be inserted into a central empty space in which the first input optical fiber 510, the second input optical fiber 520, and the third input optical fiber 530 are typically disposed, but therein. The present invention is not limited thereto, and it may be substituted or disposed in the space between the respective input optical fibers 1010 , 1020 , and 1030 at the same time. Furthermore, the guide beam optical fiber 540 may be disposed anywhere on an empty space other than the aforementioned space.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the number of input optical fibers 510, 520, and 530 constituting the input unit 410 is shown as three, but the number of input optical fibers 510, 520, and 530 is the number of fiber laser engines 320 ( Depending on n), four or six may be implemented. Even if the number n of the fiber laser engines 320 is different, since a space is formed inside the disposed fiber laser engine 320 , the guide beam optical fiber 540 may be disposed in the formed internal space.

As shown in FIG. 6 , a first input optical fiber 510 , a second input optical fiber 520 , a third input optical fiber 530 and a guide beam optical fiber 540 are bundled at the rear end of the input unit 410 by tapering. It is composed of (Bundle) form. The outer diameter of the input unit 410 bundled by tapering may be implemented in a range of 160 to 170 µm and an inner diameter of 100 µm, but is not limited thereto. Although the input unit 410 is tapered to reduce the size of the outer and inner diameters compared to the tip, the first input optical fiber 510 , the second input optical fiber 520 , the third input optical fiber 530 , and the guide beam optical fiber 540 . ), the shape of the core and clad remains undistorted.

Referring back to FIG. 4 , the output unit 430 combines the laser beam guided from the input unit 410 and outputs it to the outside. As the output unit 430 combines a plurality of laser beams, the fiber laser 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention oscillates a high-power laser beam. The front end of the output unit 430 is connected to the rear end of the input unit 410 by the splicing unit 420 . A more detailed structure of the output unit 430 will be described later with reference to FIG. 7 .

As shown in FIG. 7 , the output unit 430 includes a core 710 and a clad 720 .

As described above, the output unit combines the laser beam guided by the input unit 410 to oscillate a high-power laser beam to the outside. The laser beam guided by the input unit 410 is mainly incident on the core 710 of the output unit 410 , and the laser beam moving along the core 710 is output to the outside. At this time, a portion (reflected light) of the output laser beam is reflected back and returned to the core 710 of the output unit 430 , and the reflected light is guided by the input unit 410 along the core 710 of the output unit 430 . The beam is incident on the optical fiber 540 .

8 is a view showing the configuration of a guide beam device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The guide beam device 340 includes a guide beam oscillator 810 and a controller 820 .

The guide beam oscillator 810 outputs a guide beam having a wavelength in the visible region under the control of the controller 820 . The guide beam output from the guide beam oscillator 810 passes through the core of the guide beam optical fiber 540 and is guided into the optical fiber laser 300 .

The guide beam oscillator 810 includes an intensity adjuster (not shown) capable of adjusting the intensity therein, and the intensity of the laser beam output from the guide beam oscillator 810 is controlled by the control of the controller 820 . can

The controller 820 adjusts the intensity of the laser beam output from the guide beam oscillator 810 by controlling the operation of the intensity adjuster.

Furthermore, by controlling the power supply unit (not shown), the controller 820 may switch the power of the guide beam oscillator 810 into an on or off state.

The above description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of this embodiment, and various modifications and variations will be possible by those skilled in the art to which this embodiment belongs without departing from the essential characteristics of the present embodiment. Accordingly, the present embodiments are intended to explain rather than limit the technical spirit of the present embodiment, and the scope of the technical spirit of the present embodiment is not limited by these embodiments. The protection scope of this embodiment should be interpreted by the following claims, and all technical ideas within the equivalent range should be interpreted as being included in the scope of the present embodiment.

100: conventional fiber laser
110: pump module
120: fiber laser engine
130: laser beam combiner
210, 510: first input optical fiber
220, 520: second input optical fiber
230, 530: third input optical fiber
300: fiber laser
310: pump module
320: fiber laser engine
330: laser beam combiner
340: guide beam device
410: input of the laser beam combiner
415: capillary tube
420: splicing unit
430: output unit
540: guide beam optical fiber
710: output core
720: output clad
810: guide beam oscillator
820: control unit

Claims (3)

In the laser beam combiner of the fiber laser,
an input unit receiving and guiding the laser beam emitted from the fiber laser engine, the outside being surrounded by a capillary tube and protected;
an output unit including a core and a clad, receiving the laser beam guided from the input unit into the core and outputting it to the outside; and
and a splicing unit coupling the rear end of the input unit with the front end of the output unit,
The input unit,
a plurality of input optical fibers receiving the laser beam emitted from the optical fiber laser engine and transmitting the received laser beam to the output unit; and
The plurality of input optical fibers are disposed in an inner space formed in the center as they are disposed adjacent to each other, and guide the laser beam oscillated from the guide beam device into the optical fiber laser, and in the output part, the core of the output part A laser beam combiner comprising a guide beam optical fiber receiving the reflected light reflected back to the input unit along the .
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