USOO941.0246B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 9.410,246 B2 Winarski (45) Date of Patent: *Aug. 9, 2016 (54) GRAPHENEOPTICFIBER LASER (58) Field of Classification Search CPC .............................. H01S 3/067; G02B6/0229 (71) Applicant: Tyson York Winarski, Mountain View, See application file for complete search history. CA (US)(US (56) References Cited (72) Inventor: feYork Winarski, Mountain View, U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS - 2007/0030558 A1* 2, 2007 Martinelli ........ HO4B 10,25133 (*) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this 359,334 patent is extended or adjusted under 35 2011/0222562 A1* 9/2011 Jiang ....................... HO1S 3,067 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days. 372/6 2011/0285999 A1* 11/2011 Kim ..................... GO1N 21,552 This patent is Subject to a terminal dis- 356,445 claimer. 2012/0039344 A1 2/2012 Kian ....................... HO1S 3,067 372/6 (21) Appl. No.: 14/710,592 2014/0341238 A1*ck 1 1/2014 Kitabayashi .......... HO1S 39. (22) Filed: May 13, 2015 OTHER PUBLICATIONS O O Ariel Ismach, Clara Druzgalski, Samuel Penwell, Adam (65) Prior Publication Data Schwartzberg, Maxwell Zheng, Ali Javey, Jeffrey Bokor, and US 2015/O255945A1 Sep. 10, 2015 Yuegang Zhang, Direct Chemical Vapor Deposition of Graphene on Dielectric Surfaces, Nano Lett. 2010, 10, 1542-1548, American Chemical Society, Apr. 2, 2010. Related U.S. Application Data Rui Wang, Yufeng Hao, Ziqian Wang, Hao Gong, and John T. L. Thong in Large-Diameter Graphene Nanotubes Synthesized Using (63) Continuation-in-part of application No. 14/070,574, Ni Nanowire Templates, Nano Lett. 2010, 10, 4844-4850, American filed on Nov. 3, 2013, and a continuation-in-part of Chemical Society, Oct. 28, 2010. application No. 14/673,872, filed on Mar. 31, 2015, Jan Wasylak, Maria Lacka, Jan Kucharski. Glass of high refractive now Pat. No. 9.328.018 index for optics and optical fiber. Opt. Eng. 36(6) 1648-1651 (Jun. V - 3 - a vs. o 1997) Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. (51) Int. Cl. (Continued) GO2B 6/02 (2006.01) C23C I6/44 (2006.01) Primary Examiner — Sung Pak HOLS3/067 (2006.01) Assistant Examiner — Hoang Tran C23C I6/26 (2006.01) (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm — The Winarski Firm, PLLC HOIS 3/094 (2006.01) HOIS 3/16 (2006.01) (57) ABSTRACT (52) U.S. Cl. A graphene coated optic-fiber laser is disclosed that includes CPC ................. C23C 1644 (2013.01); C23C 1626 adoped inner core and an undoped outer core surrounding the (2013.01); G02B 6/02395 (2013.01); H0IS doped inner core. A graphene cylinder or capsule Surrounds 3,06716 (201301). HOIS 3/06733 (201301). the undoped outer core, thereby forming a cladding layer Go2B6/02043 (2013.01), Hois 3,094007 around the undoped outer core. (2013.01); HOIS 3/1608 (2013.01) 19 Claims, 13 Drawing Sheets 30 O 1-1026. 28 A 13) 16 O2 128 -a -> <- 1.28 14 O6 E 128 / 128 US 9.410,246 B2 Page 2 (56) References Cited Takatoshi Yamada, Masatou Ishihara, and Masataka Hasegawa. Low Temperature Graphene Synthesis from Poly(methyl methacrylate) OTHER PUBLICATIONS Using Microwave Plasma Treatment. Applied Physics Express 6 (2013) 115102-1. Jie Sun, Niclas Lindvall, Matthew T. Cole, TengWang, Tim J. Booth Alex Gray, Mehdi Balooch, Stephane Allegret, Stefan De Gendt, and , Peter Boggild, Kenneth B. K. Teo, Johan Liu, and August Yurgens. Wei-EWang. Optical detection and characterization of graphene by Controllable chemical vapor deposition of large area uniform broadband spectrophotometry. Journal of Applied Physics 104. nanocrystalline graphene directly on silicon dioxide. Journal of 053109 (2008). Applied Physics 111,044103 (2012). Efrain Mejia-Beltrán (2012). Rare-Earth Doped Optical Fibers, Zhancheng Li, Ping Wu, Chenxi Wang, Xiaodong Fan, Wenhua Zhang, Xiaofang Zhai, Changgan Zeng, Zhenyu Li, Jinlong Yang, Selected Topics on Optical Fiber Technology, Dr Moh. Yasin (Ed.), and Jianguo Hou. Low-Temperature Growth of Graphene by Chemi ISBN: 978-953-51-0091-1. cal Vapor Deposition Using Solid and Liquid Carbon Sources. ACSNANO vol. 5, No. 4, 3385-3390, 2011. * cited by examiner U.S. Patent Aug. 9, 2016 Sheet 1 of 13 US 9.410,246 B2 N OOO 10O2 FIG. 1 U.S. Patent Aug. 9, 2016 Sheet 2 of 13 US 9.410,246 B2 FBER SOE WEW PMP R LIGHT a 08 FIG. 2 U.S. Patent Aug. 9, 2016 Sheet 3 of 13 US 9.410,246 B2 FIBEREND WEW "N 102 FIG. 3 U.S. Patent Aug. 9, 2016 Sheet 4 of 13 US 9.410,246 B2 FIBER INDEX OF REFRACTION PROFILE O2 106 d O2 104. 100 --> 06 FIG. 4 U.S. Patent Aug. 9, 2016 Sheet 5 of 13 US 9.410,246 B2 20 140 118 Y 10 N N 122 42 is -13 FIG. 5 U.S. Patent Aug. 9, 2016 Sheet 6 of 13 US 9.410,246 B2 106 C 128 / 128 100 FIG. 6 U.S. Patent Aug. 9, 2016 Sheet 7 of 13 US 9.410,246 B2 START 2000 N 2002 PRE PARE A FBER HAVING INNER AND OUTER CORES 2004 FORMATHIN SACR FCA, LAYER OF COPPER ONTO THE SFACE OF THE OFTER CORE 2006 PERFORM CWO OF GRAPHEN E ON TO THE COPPER COVERED OF TER CORE OURNG WHCH THE COPPER DE WETS AND EVAPORATES 2008 LASER C T ENDS OF OPTC FIBER NOT COWERED BY GRAPHENE LEAVING AN OPTC FBER SURROUNDED BY A CYNDER OF GRAPHENE 2010 APPLY CIRCULAR SHEETS OF GRAPHENE TO ENDS OF OPTC FBER 2012 EXPOSE STRUCTURE TO CARBON ATMOSPHERE TO CREATE CARBON-CARBON BONDS BETWEEEN CCUAR SHEETS OF GARPHENE AND CYNDER OF GRAPHENE LEAVING AN OPEC FBERENCAPSULATED BY GRAPHENE 2014 FIG. 7 ENE U.S. Patent Aug. 9, 2016 Sheet 8 of 13 US 9.410,246 B2 are graphere tire fiber U.S. Patent Aug. 9, 2016 Sheet 9 of 13 US 9.410,246 B2 {}{}{ 6"?IH U.S. Patent Aug. 9, 2016 Sheet 10 of 13 US 9.410,246 B2 ?IH U.S. Patent Aug. 9, 2016 Sheet 11 of 13 US 9.410,246 B2 s s s S U.S. Patent Aug. 9, 2016 Sheet 12 of 13 US 9.410,246 B2 3. 38:3 - Graphene coverage s 28:8 3,588 88: 33 28 f 32: Ranan Shift (cm) FIG. 12 U.S. Patent Aug. 9, 2016 Sheet 13 of 13 US 9.410,246 B2 is c 260 nm. r 20 400 600 800 1000 Wavelength (nm) F.G. 13 US 9,410,246 B2 1. 2 GRAPHENE OPTC FIBERLASER Erbium fiber lasers emit at 1530-1620 nm. This can be frequency-doubled to generate light at 780 nm, a wavelength This application claims the benefit of U.S. patent applica that’s not available from fiber lasers in other ways. Addition tion Ser. No. 14/070,574 filed on Nov. 3, 2013, which is also ally, ytterbium can be added to erbium so that the ytterbium hereby incorporated by reference. This application also absorbs pump light and transfers that energy to erbium. Thu claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/673, lium is another dopant that emits even deeper into the near 872 filed on Mar. 31, 2015, which is also hereby incorporated infrared (NIR) 1750-2100 nm. by reference. The use of optic fiber lasers have numerous advantages. The fact that the light is already in a flexible fiberallows it to BACKGROUND 10 be easily delivered to a movable focusing element. This fea ture is important for laser cutting, welding, and folding of An optic fiber laser is a laser in which the active gain metals and polymers. Fiber lasers can have active regions medium is an optical fiber. Laser light is emitted by a dopant several kilometers long, and as such can provide very high in the central core of the fiber. Commonly, the optic fiber core 15 optical gain. They can Support kilowatt levels of continuous is doped with rare-earth elements such as erbium, ytterbium, output power because of the fiber's high surface area to vol neodymium, dysprosium, praseodymium, or thulium. A key ume ratio, which allows efficient cooling. The fiber's factor for fiber lasers is that the fiber has a large surface-to waveguiding properties reduce or eliminate thermal distor volume ratio so that heat can be dissipated relatively easily. tion of the optical path, typically producing a diffraction Fiber lasers are optically pumped, most commonly with limited, high-quality optical beam. Fiber lasers are compact laser diodes but in a few cases with other fiber lasers. The compared to rod or gas lasers of comparable power, because optics used in these systems are usually fiber components, the fiber can be bent and coiled to save space. Fiber lasers with most or all of the components fiber-coupled to one exhibit high vibrational stability, extended lifetime, and low another. In some cases, bulk optics are used, and sometimes maintenance operation. High peak power and nanosecond an internal fiber-coupling system is combined with external 25 pulses enable effective marking and engraving. The addi bulk optics. tional power and better beam quality provide cleaner cut A diode pump source can be a single diode, an array, or edges and faster cutting speeds. many separate pump diodes, each with a fiber going into a coupler. The doped fiber has a cavity mirror on each end. SUMMARY These cavity mirrors are fiber Bragg gratings, which can be 30 fabricated within the fiber. Typically, are no bulk optics on the A graphene coated optic-fiber laser is disclosed that end, unless the output beam goes into something other than a includes a doped inner core and an undoped outer core sur fiber.