摘要 |
It is an object of the invention to provide a fibre coupler for coupling two or more light sources into a multi-clad (e.g. double clad) optical fibre, which has practical advantages with respect to handling, loss and back reflection. The invention provides an optical component comprising a) a first fibre having a pump core with an NA1, and a first fibre end; b) a number of second fibres surrounding said pump core of said first fibre, at least one of said second fibres has a pump core with an NA2 that is smaller than NA1, said number of second fibres each having a second fibre end; and c) a reflector element comprising an end-facet with a predetermined profile for reflecting light from at least one of said second fibre ends into the pump core of said first fibre. The invention further relates to articles comprising the optical component (e.g. a laser or amplifier), to methods of its production and use. The invention further relates to a rod-type optical fibre with optimized stiffness to volume ratio. The invention may e.g. be useful in applications such as fibre lasers or amplifiers, specifically optical fibre amplifiers where pump light and signal light are propagating in different directions within a double-clad optical fibre. |