Optical fibre beam delivery of high-energy laser pulses: Beam quality preservation and fibre end-preparation

A. Kuhn, I. J. Blewett, D. P. Hand, P. French, M. Richmond, J. D C Jones

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)273-288
Number of pages16
JournalOptics and Lasers in Engineering
Volume34
Issue number4-6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2000

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Optical fibre beam delivery of high-energy laser pulses: Beam quality preservation and fibre end-preparation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this