Open AccessFabrication of 4 × 1 signal combiner for high-power lasers using hydrofluoric acid
Author(s) -
In Seok Choi,
Jongseon Park,
Hoon Jeong,
Ji Won Kim,
Min Yong Jeon,
Hong-Seok Seo
Publication year - 2018
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.26.030667
Subject(s) - materials science , optics , cladding (metalworking) , optical fiber , fusion splicing , tapering , fabrication , numerical aperture , signal (programming language) , hydrofluoric acid , plastic clad silica fiber , optoelectronics , plastic optical fiber , fiber optic sensor , physics , medicine , wavelength , computer graphics (images) , alternative medicine , pathology , computer science , metallurgy , programming language
We report a new method to fabricate a 4 × 1 signal combiner that comprises an output fiber port and a tapered fused bundle (TFB) with four input fiber ports. The TFB is etched in a solution of hydrofluoric acid and spliced with an output fiber of core diameter 105 μm and cladding diameter 125 μm. Each cladding of the four input optical fiber is etched to approximately 72.5 μm. The etched TFB was fabricated by tapering after forming a bundle of four etched optical fibers. Subsequently, the 4 × 1 signal combiner is fabricated by fusion splicing between the fabricated TFB and output optical fiber with a numerical aperture of 0.15. The efficiency of each port of the fabricated 4 × 1 signal combiner is in the range of 93.3-98.3%. When an optical power of approximately 624.5 W was input to the signal combiner, the maximum output was ~612 W and the efficiency was ~98%. The beam quality factor, M 2is measured to be approximately 14.6, which is calculated as the beam parameter product (BPP) of 5.02 mm·mrad.