Patents Assigned to nLIGHT, Inc.
  • High-power, single-mode fiber sources
    Patent number: 10535973
    Abstract: An optical apparatus includes one or more pump sources situated to provide laser pump light, and a gain fiber optically coupled to the one or more pump sources, the gain fiber including an actively doped core situated to produce an output beam, an inner cladding and outer cladding surrounding the doped core and situated to propagate pump light, and a polymer cladding surrounding the outer cladding and situated to guide a selected portion of the pump light coupled into the inner and outer claddings of the gain fiber. Methods of pumping a fiber sources include generating pump light from one or more pump sources, coupling the pump light into a glass inner cladding and a glass outer cladding of a gain fiber of the fiber source such that a portion of the pump light is guided by a polymer cladding surrounding the glass outer cladding, and generating a single-mode output beam from the gain fiber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: NLIGHT, INC.
    Inventors: Dahv A. V. Kliner, Roger L. Farrow
  • FIBER MANAGEMENT CARTRIDGE
    Publication number: 20200003980
    Abstract: Some embodiments may include a fiber management cartridge, comprising: a plurality of sheets of material arranged in a stack, each sheet including: a first section to fasten to a surface; and a second section to make movement relative to the surface when the first section is fastened to the surface, the second section to hold one or more loops of one or more optical fibers, respectively, of a fiber laser. Other embodiments may be disclosed and/or claimed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 25, 2019
    Publication date: January 2, 2020
    Applicant: NLIGHT, INC.
    Inventors: Christopher Andrew Luetjen, Nicolas Trent Meacham, Shaun Cody Hampton, Rodney Mark Stephens
  • CALIBRATION TEST PIECE FOR GALVANOMETRIC LASER CALIBRATION
    Publication number: 20200001396
    Abstract: Some embodiments may include a galvanometric laser system, comprising: a laser device to generate a laser beam; an X-Y scan head module to position the laser beam on a work piece, the X-Y scan head module including a laser ingress to receive the laser beam and a laser egress to output the laser beam; a support platen located below the laser egress; an in-machine imaging system integrated with the galvanometric laser, wherein a camera of the in-machine imaging system is arranged to view a surface of an object located on the support platen using one or more optical components of the X-Y scan head module to generate assessment data associated with a calibration of the X-Y scan head module by imaging the surface of the object, wherein a calibration fiducial is located on the surface of the object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2019
    Publication date: January 2, 2020
    Applicant: NLIGHT, INC.
    Inventors: Aaron Brown, Jay Small, Robert J. Martinsen
  • FINE-SCALE TEMPORAL CONTROL FOR LASER MATERIAL PROCESSING
    Publication number: 20200001400
    Abstract: Methods include directing a laser beam to a target along a scan path at a variable scan velocity and adjusting a digital modulation during movement of the laser beam along the scan path and in relation to the variable scan velocity so as to provide a fluence at the target within a predetermined fluence range along the scan path. Some methods include adjusting a width of the laser beam with a zoom beam expander. Apparatus include a laser source situated to emit a laser beam, a 3D scanner situated to receive the laser beam and to direct the laser beam along a scan path in a scanning plane at the target, and a laser source digital modulator coupled to the laser source so as to produce a fluence at the scanning plane along the scan path that is in a predetermined fluence range as the laser beam scan speed changes along the scan path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2019
    Publication date: January 2, 2020
    Applicant: nLIGHT, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert J. Martinsen, Qi Wang
  • Fiber with depressed central index for increased beam parameter product
    Patent number: 10520671
    Abstract: A method includes generating a multimode laser beam having an initial beam parameter product (bpp) and directing the multimode laser beam to an input end of a fiber so as to produce an output beam at an output of the fiber with a final bpp that is greater than the initial bpp. Another method includes measuring a base bpp associated with a multimode laser beam generated from a laser source and emitted from an output fiber output end, determining a bpp increase for the multimode laser beam, and selecting a bpp increasing optical fiber having an input end and an output end so that the multimode laser beam with the base bpp coupled to the input end has an output bpp at the output end of the bpp increasing optical fiber corresponding to the determined bpp increase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: nLIGHT, Inc.
    Inventors: Roger L. Farrow, Chris A. Rivera
  • Reverse interleaving for laser line generators
    Patent number: 10466494
    Abstract: An apparatus includes beam shearing optics situated to receive a collimated beam and to shear the collimated beam along a first direction so as to form a plurality of adjacent collimated beam portions, and homogenization optics situated to receive and homogenize the adjacent collimated beam portions along at least the first direction so as to produce a homogenized output beam. A method includes shearing a collimated beam having a beam parameter product (bpp) along an axis so as to form a plurality of sheared collimated beam portions, and arranging the sheared collimated beam portions adjacent to each other so that a line beam having a length and thickness that is formed with the light from the sheared collimated beam portions has a lower bpp associated with the line beam thickness than the bpp of the collimated beam along the axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: nLIGHT, Inc.
    Inventors: Scott A. Lerner, R. Kirk Price, Scott R. Karlsen
  • Patterning conductive films using variable focal plane to control feature size
    Patent number: 10464172
    Abstract: A processing system directs a laser beam to a composite including a substrate, a conductive layer, and a conductive border. The location of a focus of the laser beam can be controlled to bring the laser beam into focus on the surfaces of the conductive materials. The laser beam can be used to ablatively process the conductive border and non-ablatively process the conductive layer by translating a focus-adjust optical system so as to vary laser beam diameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: nLIGHT, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert J. Martinsen, Adam Dittli, Ken Gross
  • High brightness coherent multi-junction diode lasers
    Patent number: 10461505
    Abstract: Laser diodes formed on a common substrate with layers of suitable thickness and refractive indices produce output beams that are coherently coupled. A phase mask can be situated to produce phase differences in one or more of the output beams to produce a common wavefront phase. The phase-corrected beams propagate with reduced angular divergence than conventional lasers that are not coherently coupled, and the coherently coupled laser diodes can provide higher beam brightness, enhanced beam parameter product, and superior power coupled into doped fibers in fiber lasers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: nLIGHT, Inc.
    Inventors: Zhigang Chen, Manoj Kanskar
  • Laser module service shelf
    Patent number: 10451823
    Abstract: A laser module service shelf is generally presented. In some embodiments, a laser system includes a rack including a stack of slots to support a plurality of laser modules in first positions within the rack, wherein the rack comprises a pair of struts extending at opposite sides of an opening in the rack through which the laser modules may pass, and a module service shelf attachable to the struts to support a weight of one of the laser modules in a second position that is cantilevered from the rack in alignment with the opening and one of the slots, wherein the module service shelf comprises a plurality of detachable sections. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: NLIGHT, INC.
    Inventors: Joseph J. Emery, Rodney Stephens, Eric Martin, Jeremy Young, Shelly Lin
  • Short pulse fiber laser for LTPS crystallization
    Patent number: 10453691
    Abstract: Laser pulses from pulsed fiber lasers are directed to an amorphous silicon layer to produce a polysilicon layer comprising a disordered arrangement of crystalline regions by repeated melting and recrystallization. Laser pulse durations of about 0.5 to 5 ns at wavelength range between about 500 nm and 1000 nm, at repetition rates of 10 kHz to 10 MHz can be used. Line beam intensity uniformity can be improved by spectrally broadening the laser pulses by Raman scattering in a multimode fiber or by applying varying phase delays to different portions of a beam formed with the laser pulses to reduce beam coherence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: nLIGHT, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert J. Martinsen, Scott R. Karlsen, Ken Gross
  • Laser fault tolerance and self-calibration system
    Patent number: 10447004
    Abstract: A laser diode system includes plurality of laser pumps, each of the plurality of laser pumps including a plurality of laser diode drivers and a plurality of laser diode elements, wherein each of the plurality of laser diode drivers is electrically coupled to power at least two of the plurality of laser diode elements. A combiner electrically is coupled to the plurality of laser diode elements to combine an output of each of the plurality of laser pumps to generate a combined output light. A controller identifies a failed laser pump or a failed laser diode element, receives an encoded key to gain access to the controller, and disables the failed laser pump or the failed laser diode element based at least in part on authenticating the encoded key.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: NLIGHT, INC.
    Inventor: Robert Joseph Foley
  • Fine-scale temporal control for laser material processing
    Patent number: 10434600
    Abstract: Methods include directing a laser beam to a target along a scan path at a variable scan velocity and adjusting a digital modulation during movement of the laser beam along the scan path and in relation to the variable scan velocity so as to provide a fluence at the target within a predetermined fluence range along the scan path. Some methods include adjusting a width of the laser beam with a zoom beam expander. Apparatus include a laser source situated to emit a laser beam, a 3D scanner situated to receive the laser beam and to direct the laser beam along a scan path in a scanning plane at the target, and a laser source digital modulator coupled to the laser source so as to produce a fluence at the scanning plane along the scan path that is in a predetermined fluence range as the laser beam scan speed changes along the scan path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: nLIGHT, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert J. Martinsen, Qi Wang
  • Laser optical fiber tray
    Patent number: 10436997
    Abstract: A laser optical fiber tray is generally presented. In some embodiments, the optical fiber tray comprises an enclosure, coupled with a laser system rack, having an opening in the enclosure to accept a feeding fiber exiting from the laser system rack, an opening in the enclosure to allow passage of the feeding fiber out of the enclosure, and a user-accessible space within the enclosure to contain a length of the feeding fiber. In some embodiments, the optical fiber tray is mounted to a top panel of the laser system rack. In some embodiments, the optical fiber tray is mounted to a top panel of an external module which is mounted to a top panel of the laser system rack. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: NLIGHT, INC.
    Inventors: Joseph J. Emery, Aaron Brown, Shelly Lin
  • SINGLE MODE LMA (LARGE MODE AREA) FIBER
    Publication number: 20190302354
    Abstract: Large mode area optical fibers include cores that are selected to be smaller than a core size associated with a minimum mode field diameter of a lowest order mode. Cross-sectional shape of such cores can be circular or annular, and a plurality of such cores can be used. Gain regions can be provided in cores or claddings, and selected to produce a selected state of polarization.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 1, 2019
    Publication date: October 3, 2019
    Applicant: nLIGHT, Inc.
    Inventor: Manoj Kanskar
  • Adjustable beam characteristics
    Patent number: 10423015
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are methods, apparatus, and systems for perturbing an optical beam propagating within a first length of fiber to adjust one or more beam characteristics of the optical beam in the first length of fiber or a second length of fiber or a combination thereof, coupling the perturbed optical beam into a second length of fiber and maintaining at least a portion of one or more adjusted beam characteristics within a second length of fiber having.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2019
    Assignee: nLIGHT, Inc.
    Inventors: Dahv A. V. Kliner, Roger Farrow
  • Spectrally multiplexing diode pump modules to improve brightness
    Patent number: 10418774
    Abstract: A method of spectrally multiplexing diode pump modules to increase brightness includes generating one or more pump beams from respective diode lasers at a first wavelength in a diode laser package, generating one or more pump beams from respective diode lasers at a second wavelength different from the first wavelength in the diode laser package, wavelength combining at least one of the pump beams at the first wavelength with at least one of the pump beams at the second wavelength to form one or more combined pump beams, and receiving the combined pump beams in a pump fiber coupled to the diode laser package. Laser systems can include multi-wavelength pump modules and a gain fiber having a core actively doped so as to have an absorption spectrum corresponding to the multiple wavelength, the gain fiber situated to receive the pump light and to produce an output beam at an output wavelength.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2019
    Assignee: nLIGHT, Inc.
    Inventors: David Martin Hemenway, David C. Dawson, Wolfram Urbanek, Roger L. Farrow, Dahv A. V. Kliner
  • LASER BURST LOGGING SYSTEMS AND METHODS
    Publication number: 20190280447
    Abstract: A burst logging system logs and transmits to a local or remote computing system event data related to errors in and or potential failures of laser system components. The system further provides for capturing data at different rates from different sensors, synchronization of data capture associated with system events and the possibility for aggregation of data from multiple systems, which can in turn be leveraged to predict and or remediate future system events.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2019
    Publication date: September 12, 2019
    Applicant: nLIGHT, Inc.
    Inventor: Michael C. Nelson
  • FIBER LASER HAVING VARIABLY WOUND OPTICAL FIBER
    Publication number: 20190280449
    Abstract: Some embodiments may include a fiber laser, comprising: a variably wound optical fiber, wherein the variably wound optical fiber includes: a first length arranged in a plurality of first loops with a first separation distance between successive ones of the first loops; and a second length arranged in a plurality of second loops with a second separation distance between successive ones of the second loops; wherein the first separation distance between successive ones of the first loops is greater than the second separation distance between successive ones of the second loops; and packaging to remove heat generated by the optical fiber of the fiber laser during operation of the fiber laser, wherein the variably wound optical fiber is fixably mounted to a surface of a heat conductor of the packaging.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2019
    Publication date: September 12, 2019
    Applicant: NLIGHT, INC.
    Inventors: Aaron Ludwig Hodges, Nicolas Meacham, Dahv Kliner, Mitchell Ryan Reynolds
  • Multi-beam laser processing with dispersion compensation
    Patent number: 10406630
    Abstract: A multi-beam laser material processing system for processing a target includes a beam splitting system situated to receive an input beam, the beam splitting system including a beam splitter situated to receive and split the input beam into a plurality of subbeams, a focus lens situated to receive the subbeams and cause the subbeams to converge, a zoom lens system situated to receive the subbeams and adjust the magnification of the subbeams at the target, and a dispersion compensation system situated to receive the subbeams and compensate for dispersion associated with the subbeams, the dispersion compensation system including a negative diffractive lens and a positive diffractive lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignee: nLIGHT, Inc.
    Inventor: Scott R. Karlsen
  • Fiber pump combiner
    Patent number: 10404031
    Abstract: An optical fiber combiner comprising a coupling device having an input surface area, and you Ain, and an output surface area, Aout, wherein the input surface area Ain is greater than the output surface area Aout, and a plurality of optical fibers each having an input surface and an output surface, wherein the output surfaces of the plurality of optical fibers are coupled to the coupling device, wherein the coupling device combines optical power emitted by the plurality of optical fibers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: nLIGHT, Inc.
    Inventor: Manoj Kanskar