TY - JOUR
T1 - Optical fibre beam delivery of high-energy laser pulses
T2 - Beam quality preservation and fibre end-preparation
AU - Kuhn, A.
AU - Blewett, I. J.
AU - Hand, D. P.
AU - French, P.
AU - Richmond, M.
AU - Jones, J. D C
PY - 2000/10
Y1 - 2000/10
N2 - This paper investigates the extension of optical fibre beam delivery to high-brightness applications, in particular laser percussion drilling, where both a good beam quality and high peak power are required. Beam quality preservation through a number of optical fibres is studied both experimentally and by using a ray propagation model. It is determined that in order to achieve the beam quality required for percussion drilling (M2<30) the largest fibre which can be used is 400 µm diameter. The laser-induced damage threshold is measured for a number of 400 µm fibres, and a CO2 laser-annealing technique is shown to increase the damage threshold by a factor of 10, allowing 28 J, 1 ms pulses to be transmitted.
AB - This paper investigates the extension of optical fibre beam delivery to high-brightness applications, in particular laser percussion drilling, where both a good beam quality and high peak power are required. Beam quality preservation through a number of optical fibres is studied both experimentally and by using a ray propagation model. It is determined that in order to achieve the beam quality required for percussion drilling (M2<30) the largest fibre which can be used is 400 µm diameter. The laser-induced damage threshold is measured for a number of 400 µm fibres, and a CO2 laser-annealing technique is shown to increase the damage threshold by a factor of 10, allowing 28 J, 1 ms pulses to be transmitted.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0034290106&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0143-8166(00)00082-8
DO - 10.1016/S0143-8166(00)00082-8
M3 - Article
VL - 34
SP - 273
EP - 288
JO - Optics and Lasers in Engineering
JF - Optics and Lasers in Engineering
IS - 4-6
ER -