Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to provide a beam combining optical device which can compress the wavelength interval of unit beams participating in beam combining, increase the number of the unit beams participating in beam combining and contribute to improving beam combining power and brightness.
In order to achieve the purpose, the invention provides the following technical scheme:
a beam combining optical device comprising an optical media body, the optical media body comprising:
the input surface is used for receiving the light beams with different wavelengths and guiding the light beams to be incident to the grating layer;
the first reflecting surface and the second reflecting surface are respectively positioned at two sides of the grating layer and are used for enabling the light beams with different wavelengths entering the optical medium body to propagate back and forth between the first reflecting surface and the second reflecting surface so as to guide the light beams to propagate along the length direction of the grating layer, and the light beams are diffracted after passing through the grating layer in the path that the light beams propagate from the first reflecting surface to the second reflecting surface or from the second reflecting surface to the first reflecting surface each time;
the grating layer is arranged in the optical medium body and is used for diffracting the light beams with different wavelengths which are incident to the grating layer together every time, so that the spacing distance of the light beams is reduced, the included angle of the propagation direction is reduced, and the light beams are converged into one beam after being subjected to diffraction action for a plurality of times;
and the output surface is used for outputting the combined beam of light.
Preferably, the input surface is a plane surface, and the input surface is perpendicular to the central beam propagation direction of each beam.
Preferably, the input surface is a curved surface having a converging effect on the light beam.
Preferably, the output face is a plane, the output face being perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the outgoing merged beam.
Preferably, the output surface is a curved surface having a collimating effect on the output merged light beam.
Preferably, the first reflecting surface is parallel to the second reflecting surface.
Preferably, the refractive index of the grating layer periodically changes along the length direction of the grating layer.
Preferably, the optical dielectric body is a quartz dielectric body, a germanium dielectric body, a silicon dielectric body or a semiconductor material dielectric body.
Preferably, the optical medium body includes at least two grating layers, the at least two grating layers are sequentially disposed in the optical medium body in layers and are both located between the first reflecting surface and the second reflecting surface, and each beam sequentially passes through each grating layer to generate a diffraction effect in a path where each beam is transmitted from the first reflecting surface to the second reflecting surface or from the second reflecting surface to the first reflecting surface each time.
Preferably, an antireflection film is plated on the surface of the input surface, and/or an antireflection film is plated on the surface of the output surface, and/or a high-reflection film is plated on the surface of the first reflection surface, and/or a high-reflection film is plated on the surface of the second reflection surface.
According to the technical scheme, the beam combining optical device comprises an optical medium body, wherein the optical medium body comprises an input surface, a grating layer, a first reflecting surface, a second reflecting surface and an output surface, the grating layer is arranged in the optical medium body, and the first reflecting surface and the second reflecting surface are respectively positioned on two sides of the grating layer. The grating layer diffracts the beams with different wavelengths which are incident to the grating layer at each time to reduce the spacing distance of the beams and the included angle of the propagation direction, so that the beams are converged into a grating layer after being subjected to a plurality of diffraction actions and output by the output surface.
The beam combining optical device diffracts the light beams with different wavelengths for multiple times through the grating structure in the optical medium body, improves the dispersion capacity of the beam combining optical device, can compress the wavelength intervals of the unit light beams participating in beam combining, increases the number of the unit light beams participating in beam combining, and is beneficial to improving the beam combining power and brightness.
Detailed Description
In order to make those skilled in the art better understand the technical solution of the present invention, the technical solution in the embodiment of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiment of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiment is only a part of the embodiment of the present invention, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
The embodiment of the invention provides a beam combining optical device, which comprises an optical medium body, wherein the optical medium body comprises:
the input surface is used for receiving the light beams with different wavelengths and guiding the light beams to be incident to the grating layer;
the first reflecting surface and the second reflecting surface are respectively positioned at two sides of the grating layer and are used for enabling the light beams with different wavelengths entering the optical medium body to propagate back and forth between the first reflecting surface and the second reflecting surface so as to guide the light beams to propagate along the length direction of the grating layer, and the light beams are diffracted after passing through the grating layer in the path that the light beams propagate from the first reflecting surface to the second reflecting surface or from the second reflecting surface to the first reflecting surface each time;
the grating layer is arranged in the optical medium body and is used for diffracting the light beams with different wavelengths which are incident to the grating layer together every time, so that the spacing distance of the light beams is reduced, the included angle of the propagation direction is reduced, and the light beams are converged into one beam after being subjected to diffraction action for a plurality of times;
and the output surface is used for outputting the combined beam of light.
Any one of the different wavelength light beams is a light beam having a certain central wavelength and a certain spectral width. The central wavelengths of the light beams with different wavelengths are different, and the spectrums of the light beams are not overlapped.
The optical medium body is a medium that allows a light beam to propagate inside thereof. Based on the reflection action of the first reflection surface and the second reflection surface of the optical medium body on the light, the light beams with different wavelengths are made to propagate back and forth between the first reflection surface and the second reflection surface, so that the light beams are guided to propagate along the length direction of the grating layer. The grating layer in the optical medium body has a grating structure, and the light beam incident to the grating layer can generate diffraction effect through the grating layer. Each light beam passes through the grating layer to generate diffraction action in the path that each light beam is transmitted to the second reflecting surface from the first reflecting surface or transmitted to the first reflecting surface from the second reflecting surface, each light beam with different wavelengths which is simultaneously incident to the grating layer at each time generates diffraction action, the spacing distance of each light beam is reduced, the included angle of the transmission direction is reduced, and each light beam is converged into one light beam after being subjected to diffraction action for a plurality of times by the grating layer in the transmission process and is output by the output surface.
The beam combining optical device in the embodiment enables the beams with different wavelengths to pass through the grating layer repeatedly for a plurality of times through the reflecting surface of the optical medium body, and diffracts the beams with different wavelengths for a plurality of times through the grating layer, so that the dispersion capacity of the beam combining optical device is improved, the wavelength interval of the unit beams participating in beam combining can be compressed, the number of the unit beams participating in beam combining is increased, and the beam combining power and the brightness are improved.
The beam combining optical device will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and the embodiments. Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a beam combining optical device according to the present embodiment, and as can be seen from the diagram, the beam combining optical device includes an optical medium body 100, where the optical medium body 100 includes an input surface 104, a first reflective surface 101, a second reflective surface 102, a grating layer 103, and an output surface 105.
The input surface 104 of the optical medium body 100 is used for receiving the light beams with different wavelengths and guiding the light beams to be incident on the grating layer 103. Alternatively, the input surface 104 may be a flat surface, with the input surface 104 being perpendicular to the central beam propagation direction of each beam. The input surface 104 may also be a curved surface having a converging effect on the light beams, so that the light beams are converged and incident on the grating layer 103 through the input surface. Preferably, an antireflection coating may be coated on the surface of the input surface 104 to allow each light beam to transmit efficiently.
The first reflective surface 101 and the second reflective surface 102 are respectively located on two sides of the grating layer 103, so that the light beams with different wavelengths entering the optical medium 100 reciprocally propagate between the first reflective surface 101 and the second reflective surface 102 based on the reflection of the two light beams, so as to guide the light beams to propagate along the length direction of the grating layer 103, and the light beams are diffracted by the grating layer 103 on the way that the light beams propagate from the first reflective surface 101 to the second reflective surface 102 or from the second reflective surface 102 to the first reflective surface 101 each time. The grating layer 103 is disposed in the optical medium 100, and configured to diffract the light beams with different wavelengths, which are incident to the grating layer 103 together each time, so that the separation distance between the light beams is reduced, the included angle in the propagation direction is reduced, and the light beams are converged into one beam after being diffracted for several times. The combined light beam is output by the output face 105.
Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of propagation paths of light beams with different wavelengths in the beam combining optical device shown in fig. 1, wherein three light beams with different wavelengths, a unit light beam 1, a unit light beam 2, and a unit light beam 3, are combined for illustration. Light beams with different wavelengths enter the optical medium body 100 from the input surface 104 and enter the grating layer 103, and the light beams diffract on the grating layer 103, so that the spacing distance between the light beams is reduced, and the included angle between the light beams in the propagation direction is reduced; then, each light beam is reflected back to the grating layer 103 through the second reflecting surface 102, and is diffracted again through the grating layer 103, and then each light beam is reflected back to the grating layer 103 by the first reflecting surface 101, so that each light beam with different wavelengths propagates back and forth between the first reflecting surface 101 and the second reflecting surface 102, and each light beam is guided to propagate along the length direction of the grating layer 103. The light beams with different wavelengths are subjected to diffraction action for a plurality of times through the grating layer in the transmission process, the spacing distance of the light beams is continuously reduced, the included angle of the transmission direction is continuously reduced, the light beams form combined light in a near field and far field superposition mode during the last diffraction, and therefore the light beams are converged into one light beam.
Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a conventional spectrum beam combination, which shows that unit laser beams 11, 12, and 13 with different central wavelengths and narrow line widths are respectively incident on a grating 10 at a certain angle, and are diffracted by the grating 10 to be combined into a single beam 14 for output. This spectral beam combining structure diffracts each light beam only once. The dispersion capability of the beam combining optical device in this embodiment is related to the diffraction times of each light beam through the grating layer, and if the grating layer of the beam combining optical device is a first-order diffraction grating and each light beam is diffracted by the grating layer for N times, the equivalent dispersion D of the beam combining optical device isTComprises the following steps:
wherein,
representing the dispersion of the beam in a single pass through the grating layer. Therefore, the beam combining optical device of the present embodiment allows each beam to diffract N times through the grating layer, if the dispersion of the beam passing through the grating layer once in the beam combining optical device is the same as that of the prior art shown in fig. 3The dispersion of the grating is the same, so that the dispersion capability is improved by (N-1) times compared with the existing spectrum beam combination mode.
The spectral width Δ λ of the output merged beam is the ratio of the incident angle interval Δ θ to the dispersion D:
then the beam combining optical device outputs the spectral bandwidth delta lambda of the light beam after each light beam is subjected to N times of diffraction action by the grating layer
TComprises the following steps:
it can be seen that the spectral width of the output beam of the beam combining optical device is 1/N of the spectral width of the single pass of the beam through the grating layer, and the spectral width is compressed by (N-1), i.e. the beam combining optical device can couple the unit beams by N times in the same spectral width range, thereby improving the output optical power and brightness by (N-1).
Optionally, the grating layer 103 is a transmissive grating layer, and the refractive index of the grating layer 103 may periodically change along the length direction of the grating layer 103, and the refractive index of the grating layer 103 changes along the length direction in one period, so as to form a grating structure. In particular implementations, the refractive index of the grating layer 103 may vary gradually or in steps along its length during a period. In actual manufacturing, the grating layer can be prepared by adopting excimer laser direct writing, holographic exposure or secondary epitaxial growth. The grating layer 103 may be a single-chip grating layer or may be formed by splicing multiple grating layers.
Preferably, the first reflective surface 101 is parallel to the second reflective surface 102, so that the light beams with different wavelengths can propagate back and forth between the first reflective surface 101 and the second reflective surface 102, and the incident angle of the light beams with different wavelengths incident on the grating layer 103 can satisfy the diffraction equation of the grating layer.
Further optionally, the first reflective surface 101 may be parallel to the second reflective surface 102, the first reflective surface 101 may be parallel to the grating layer 103, a normal of any position on the first reflective surface is parallel to a normal of a corresponding position of the grating layer 103, the second reflective surface 102 is parallel to the grating layer 103, and a normal of any position on the second reflective surface 102 is parallel to a normal of a corresponding position of the grating layer 103. In specific implementation, the surface of the first reflective surface 101 may be coated with a high reflective film to increase the reflectivity, or may not be coated with a film. The surface of the second reflecting surface 102 may be coated with a high reflective film to increase the reflectivity, or may not be coated with a film.
Alternatively, output face 105 may be a planar surface, with output face 105 being perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the outgoing merged beam, which propagates through output face 105. Alternatively, output face 105 may be a curved surface that collimates the output combined beam. Preferably, an antireflection film can be plated on the surface of the output surface 105 to enable the merged light beam to be transmitted efficiently, and an antireflection film with a transmittance of 100% or an antireflection film with a transmittance of 80-90% can be plated on the output surface 105.
In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the input surface 104 and the output surface 105 are both located on the side of the grating layer 103 facing the first reflective surface 101, and the light beams with different wavelengths enter the optical medium body 100 from the input surface 104 and propagate under the guiding action of the first reflective surface 101, the second reflective surface 102 and the grating layer 103 to form a combined light beam, which is output from the output surface 105. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the input surface and the output surface can be located on two sides of the grating layer, respectively, and are within the scope of the present invention.
Further, the optical medium body 100 may be a quartz medium body, a germanium medium body or a silicon medium body, and may also be a semiconductor material medium body such as GaAs, InP and the like. But is not limited to this and other optical media may be used within the scope of the invention. The operating wavelength of the beam combining optical device of the embodiment can cover the ultraviolet to far infrared bands.
In a further preferred embodiment, the optical medium body includes at least two grating layers, the at least two grating layers are sequentially disposed in the optical medium body in layers and are both located between the first reflecting surface and the second reflecting surface, and each beam sequentially passes through each grating layer to be diffracted each time on a path where each beam propagates from the first reflecting surface to the second reflecting surface or from the second reflecting surface to the first reflecting surface. Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a beam combining optical device of this embodiment, as can be seen from the figure, the beam combining optical device includes an optical medium body 200, the optical medium body 200 includes an input surface 204, a first reflecting surface 201, a second reflecting surface 202, at least two grating layers 203 and an output surface 205, the at least two grating layers 203 are disposed in the optical medium body 200 and are sequentially disposed between the first reflecting surface 201 and the second reflecting surface 202 in a layered manner.
The input surface 204 is used for receiving the light beams with different wavelengths and guiding the light beams to be incident on the grating layer 203. The first reflective surface 201 and the second reflective surface 202 are configured to make the light beams with different wavelengths incident on the grating layer 203 reciprocally propagate between the first reflective surface 201 and the second reflective surface 202 to guide the light beams to propagate along the length direction of the grating layer 203, and the light beams sequentially pass through the grating layer 203 to be diffracted each time on the path that the light beams propagate from the first reflective surface 201 to the second reflective surface 202 or from the second reflective surface 202 to the first reflective surface 201. The grating layer 203 is configured to diffract the light beams with different wavelengths that are incident to the grating layer 203 at each time, so that the separation distance between the light beams is reduced, the included angle between the propagation directions is reduced, and the light beams are combined into one light beam after being diffracted for several times.
In the beam combining optical device of the present embodiment, each grating layer 203 can diffract the light beams with different wavelengths N times, and assuming that the beam combining optical device includes M grating layers 203, each light beam can diffract N × M times in total, accordingly, the spectral interval of each unit light beam participating in beam combining can be compressed to 1/(N × M) of the spectral interval of each unit light beam diffracted at a time, that is, the beam combining optical device can couple N × M times of the number of unit light beams in the same spectral width range, and can increase the power and brightness of the light beam by (N × M-1).
In practical application, the number of grating layers included in the beam combining optical device of the embodiment can be flexibly set according to practical application requirements.
Therefore, the beam combining optical device can be provided with at least two grating layers in the optical medium body, each light beam participating in beam combining can be diffracted for multiple times by each grating layer, the dispersion capacity of the beam combining optical device can be further improved, the wavelength interval of the unit light beams participating in beam combining can be compressed, the number of the unit light beams participating in beam combining is increased, and the beam combining power and the brightness are improved.
The beam combining optical device provided by the invention is described in detail above. The principles and embodiments of the present invention are explained herein using specific examples, which are presented only to assist in understanding the method and its core concepts. It should be noted that, for those skilled in the art, it is possible to make various improvements and modifications to the present invention without departing from the principle of the present invention, and those improvements and modifications also fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention.