DEVICE FOR DETECTING DAMAGE IN A LASER POWER TRANSMITTING OPTICAL FIBER

摘要

A device for detecting damage in an optical fiber for transmitting high power laser beams. The optical fiber has an incident end face and an emergent end face with the emergent end face being coated with either a transmission increasing or a reflection increasing coating. A focusing optical system is provided between the laser light source and the incident end face of the optical fiber to focus the laser light reflected from the emergent end face back through the incident end face. A detector for detecting damage is disposed in path of the reflected laser light focused by the focusing optical system and outside the path of the laser light applied to the incident face.