Abstract: In some implementations, a fiber processing machine may receive an optical assembly comprising an input fiber, an output fiber, and a graded index fiber spliced between the input fiber and the output fiber, wherein the graded index fiber has a pitch length and a processed length. A light source may deliver input light into an input end of the input fiber while one or more components monitor output light at an output end of the output fiber. The fiber processing machine may alter a core diameter and the processed length of the graded index fiber until one or more measurements of the output light at the output end of the output fiber indicate that the output light is a perfect image of the input light.

Abstract: In some implementations, an optical component includes an optical medium, the optical medium having a surface, wherein the surface includes one or more hydroxyl group terminations; and a surface layer chemically bonded to the optical medium, such that the surface layer has a thickness of less than 10 nanometers and is a hydrophobic surface, the surface layer including at least one of: a hexamethyldisilazane material, a polysiloxane material, a polydimethylsiloxane material, a fluoro-polymer material, an organosilicon material, or an organofluorine material.

Abstract: In some implementations, an optical system includes a multicore input fiber comprising multiple cores that are each configured to support an independent singlemode laser; a delivery fiber comprising a single core configured to support multiple modes; and a signal combiner, coupled to the multicore input fiber and coupled to the delivery fiber. In some implementations, the signal combiner is configured to receive multiple independent singlemode laser inputs from the multicore input fiber and to combine the multiple independent singlemode laser inputs into a multimode output that is provided to the delivery fiber.

Abstract: In some implementations, a substrate tube in a modified chemical vapor deposition process may rotate while glass precursors flow into the substrate tube at a fixed rate. Dopants may be delivered into the substrate tube while heat is applied to the substrate tube to deposit, on an inner wall of the substrate tube, a layer of material including the glass precursors and the dopants. A lateral position of an exit of an injection tube used to deliver the dopants may be adjusted while the substrate tube is rotated and heat is applied to the substrate tube such that the material deposited on the inner wall of the substrate tube has an azimuthally non-uniform doping concentration. Alternatively, a rotation of the substrate tube may be adjusted to create opposing temperature gradients within the substrate tube, causing non-uniform layer deposition to occur on different sides of the substrate tube in alternating passes.

Abstract: A laser beam delivery system includes an optical beam launcher device and a waveguide assembly. The optical beam launcher device includes an optical relay system that includes a beam splitting optic that is configured to cause a laser beam that is input into the optical beam launcher device to be split into a first laser sub-beam and a second laser sub-beam, cause the first laser sub-beam to transmit to a first region of an input lens of the waveguide assembly, and cause the second laser sub-beam to transmit to a second region of the input lens. The waveguide assembly is configured to transmit the first laser sub-beam and the second laser sub-beam from the input lens to an output lens of the waveguide assembly, wherein the first laser sub-beam and the second laser sub-beam transmit from the waveguide assembly and form an output laser beam.

Abstract: In some implementations, a substrate tube in a modified chemical vapor deposition process may rotate while glass precursors flow into the substrate tube at a fixed rate. Dopants may be delivered into the substrate tube while heat is applied to the substrate tube to deposit, on an inner wall of the substrate tube, a layer of material including the glass precursors and the dopants. A lateral position of an exit of an injection tube used to deliver the dopants may be adjusted while the substrate tube is rotated and heat is applied to the substrate tube such that the material deposited on the inner wall of the substrate tube has an azimuthally non-uniform doping concentration. Alternatively, a rotation of the substrate tube may be adjusted to create opposing temperature gradients within the substrate tube, causing non-uniform layer deposition to occur on different sides of the substrate tube in alternating passes.

Abstract: An optical fiber device may include an optical waveguide to guide a laser output from a first end of the optical waveguide to a second end of the optical waveguide. The optical fiber device may include a fiber telescope optically coupled to the second end of the optical waveguide to modify the laser output. The fiber telescope may include a first graded-index optical element, a first facet of the first graded-index optical element being fused to the second end of the optical waveguide; and a second graded-index optical element, a first facet of the second graded-index optical element being fused to a second facet of the first graded-index optical element.

Abstract: In some implementations, a laser diode array may comprise a cavity that includes a rear facet and a front facet and multiple emitters that are transversely single mode and disposed within the cavity. In some implementations, the multiple emitters each include a seeding section having a constant emitter width that is single mode at the rear facet and a flared section having a monotonically expanding emitter width that increases adiabatically over a majority of a length of the cavity such that outputs from the multiple emitters are single mode at the front facet. In some implementations, the emitter width is less than twenty micrometers at the front facet.

Abstract: An optical element may include a plurality of subsurface induced scattering centers formed in the optical element, where the plurality of subsurface induced scattering centers scatter light passing through the optical element. In some implementations, the plurality of subsurface induced scattering centers may form a scattering region in the optical element. Additionally, or alternatively, the plurality of subsurface induced scattering centers may spatially vary transmission of light through the optical element. The optical element may be an optical waveguide, a bulk optic, and/or the like.

Abstract: A pulse stretching fiber oscillator (or laser cavity) may comprise a chirped fiber Bragg grating (CFBG) and an optical circulator arranged such that a first portion of a beam that is transmitted through the CFBG continues to propagate through the laser cavity while a second portion of the beam that is reflected from the CFBG is stretched and chirped by the CFBG and directed out of the laser cavity by the optical circulator. Accordingly, a configuration of the CFBG and the optical circulator in the laser cavity may enable pulse stretching contemporaneous with outcoupling, which may prevent deleterious nonlinear phase from accumulating prior to stretching.

Abstract: An optical fiber may comprise a core doped with one or more active ions to guide signal light from an input end of the optical fiber to an output end of the optical fiber, a cladding surrounding the core to guide pump light from the input end of the optical fiber to the output end of the optical fiber, and one or more inserts formed in the cladding surrounding the core. The core may have a geometry (e.g., a cross-sectional size, a helical pitch, and/or the like) that varies along a longitudinal length of the optical fiber, which may cause an absorption of the pump light to be modulated along the longitudinal length of the optical fiber.

Abstract: A laser component includes a pump-signal combiner, which includes a first capillary, a plurality of pump fibers, a second capillary, and a signal fiber. The plurality of pump fibers, the second capillary, and the signal fiber are arranged in a bundle configuration. The bundle configuration is disposed within an internal portion of the first capillary. A cross-section of the bundle configuration includes an outer area, in which the plurality of pump fibers are disposed, and an inner area, in which the second capillary and the signal fiber are disposed. The signal fiber is disposed within an internal portion of the second capillary.

Abstract: In some implementations, a monolithic optical fiber may comprise a tapered core having a first diameter at an input end and a second diameter at an output end. The tapered core may comprise a first tapered region at the input end, a second tapered region at the output end, and a central region having a constant diameter that is larger than the first diameter and the second diameter. The first tapered region expands monotonically from the first diameter to the constant diameter of the central region along a length of the first tapered region, and the second tapered region contracts monotonically from the constant diameter of the central region to the second diameter along a length of the second tapered region. The monolithic optical fiber may be used as a delivery fiber to deliver a laser beam from a fiber laser engine to a process head.

Abstract: In some implementations, a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system may include one or more pump laser sources, a power amplifier, and a multicore oscillator that includes an input side coupled to the one or more pump laser sources and an output side coupled to the power amplifier. In some implementations, the multicore oscillator may include an active fiber, including an inner cladding, an outer cladding surrounding the inner cladding, and multiple active fiber cores, embedded in the inner cladding, to convert pump light into signal light. In some implementations, the multicore oscillator may include multiple first reflectors that are each configured to operate as a high reflector on the input side of the oscillator, and multiple second reflectors that are each configured to operate as an output coupler on the output side of the oscillator.

Abstract: A pulse stretching fiber oscillator (or laser cavity) may comprise a chirped fiber Bragg grating (CFBG) and an optical circulator arranged such that a first portion of a beam that is transmitted through the CFBG continues to propagate through the laser cavity while a second portion of the beam that is reflected from the CFBG is stretched and chirped by the CFBG and directed out of the laser cavity by the optical circulator. Accordingly, a configuration of the CFBG and the optical circulator in the laser cavity may enable pulse stretching contemporaneous with outcoupling, which may prevent deleterious nonlinear phase from accumulating prior to stretching.

Abstract: An optical device may include a fiber to provide a beam. The optical device may include a graded-index element to expand or magnify the beam. An input facet of the graded-index element may be adhered to an output facet of the fiber. The optical device may include an optical transformation element to transform the beam after the beam is expanded or magnified by the graded-index element. An input facet of the optical transformation element may be adhered to an output facet of the graded-index element. The optical transformation element may comprise at least one active optical element or may be non-birefringent such that orthogonal polarizations of the beam do not experience distinct phase transformations.

Abstract: An in-fiber beam scanning system may comprise an input fiber to provide a beam, a feeding fiber comprising an imaging bundle with multiple cores embedded in a first cladding that is surrounded by a second cladding, and an in-fiber beam shifter that comprises a first multibend beam shifter coupled to the input fiber, a graded index fiber following the first multibend beam shifter, and a second multibend beam shifter following the graded index fiber and coupling into the feeding fiber. In some implementations, the first multibend beam shifter is actuated by a first amount and the second multibend beam shifter is actuated by a second amount to shift the beam in two dimensions and deliver the beam into one or more target cores in the imaging bundle.

Abstract: An optical device may include a fiber to provide a beam. The optical device may include a graded-index element to expand or magnify the beam. An input facet of the graded-index element may be adhered to an output facet of the fiber. The optical device may include an optical transformation element to transform the beam after the beam is expanded or magnified by the graded-index element. An input facet of the optical transformation element may be adhered to an output facet of the graded-index element.

Abstract: An in-fiber beam scanning system may comprise an input fiber to provide a beam, a feeding fiber comprising an imaging bundle with multiple cores embedded in a first cladding that is surrounded by a second cladding, and an in-fiber beam shifter that comprises a first multibend beam shifter coupled to the input fiber, a graded index fiber following the first multibend beam shifter, and a second multibend beam shifter following the graded index fiber and coupling into the feeding fiber. In some implementations, the first multibend beam shifter is actuated by a first amount and the second multibend beam shifter is actuated by a second amount to shift the beam in two dimensions and deliver the beam into one or more target cores in the imaging bundle.

Abstract: An optical device may include a polarization splitter to split a unidirectional rotary optical beam into a first rotary optical beam having a first polarization state and a second rotary optical beam having a second polarization state. The unidirectional rotary optical beam and the second rotary optical beam may have optical power with a first direction of spatial rotation. The optical device may include a reflective element to reverse a parity of the first rotary optical beam in association with causing optical power of the first rotary optical beam to have a second direction of spatial rotation. The optical device may include a polarization combiner to, after reversal of the parity of the first rotary optical beam, combine the first rotary optical beam and the second rotary optical beam to create a bi-directional rotary optical beam having the first polarization state and the second polarization state.