A combinatorial buffered oxide etching method for high-power cladding light stripper

Abstract

High-power fiber lasers have been applied in many areas due to their advantages such as high beam quality, compact structure, flexibility and high efficiency. However, the absorption of the pump light is limited and a residual pumped light keeps propagating in the cladding. This residual pumped light affects the beam quality and can damage the whole system. Therefore, an efficient removal of excess high-power cladding light is critical for the safe operation of the high-power fiber lasers and high beam quality [1]. Adding a new structure to the cladding of the fiber leading to interrupt total internal reflection in the clad and scatter away the unwanted pump light is the generalized approach for a cladding light stripper (CLS) device fabrication. Also, it is important to scatter all the unwanted light uniformly along the CLS. Etching the fiber for surface damage and recoating the fiber [2] are two general methods for stripping the cladding light [3-5].