Open AccessBeam characteristics of fiber-based supercontinuum light sources with mirror- and lens-based beam collimators
Author(s) -
Ian J. Arnold,
Hans Moosmüller,
Noopur Sharma,
Cláudio Mazzoleni
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.22.013860
Subject(s) - supercontinuum , optics , collimated light , collimator , lens (geology) , laser beam quality , beam (structure) , physics , parabolic reflector , photonic crystal fiber , optical fiber , materials science , optoelectronics , laser , laser beams
Commercially available supercontinuum light sources that cover most of the solar spectrum are well suited for instrumentation, where a well-collimated beam with wide spectral coverage is needed. Typically, the optical power is emitted from a single-mode photonic-crystal fiber and the output can either be collimated using a proprietary, permanently integrated, lens-based collimator or with a customer-provided, off-axis parabolic mirror. Here, we evaluate both approaches and conclude that, superior beam quality and collimation over the whole spectral range can be obtained with an off-axis parabolic mirror, however at the price of a more complex and bulky system requiring additional user alignment.