Beam quality after propagation of Nd:YAG laser light through large-core optical fibers
2000
Laser beam characteristics are altered during propagation through
large-core optical fibers. The distribution of modes excited by the
input laser beam is modified by means of mode coupling on transmission
through the fiber, leading to spatial dispersion of the profile and,
ultimately and unavoidably, to degradation in the quality of the
delivered beam unless the beam is spatially filtered with consequent
power loss. Furthermore, a mismatch between the intensity profile
of a typical focused high-power laser beam and the profile of the
step-index fiber gives rise to additional beam-quality
degradation. Modern materials processing applications demand ever
higher delivered beam qualities (as measured by a parameter such as
M2) to achieve greater machining
precision and efficiency, a demand that is currently in conflict with
the desire to utilize the convenience and flexibility of large-core
fiber-optic beam delivery. We present a detailed experimental
investigation of the principal beam-quality degradation effects
associated with fiber-optic beam delivery and use numerical modeling to
aid an initial discussion of the causes of such degradation.
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