background image

Fine alignment of the FDS

24

Figure 13  

Coarse alignment - spot adjustment

6. Disable emission.

7.

Remove the alignment tool from the CONNECT and reinstall it in the reverse 
direction. The distance from the output mirror to the pinhole is increased thus 
reducing the acceptance angle tolerance. (i.e. the procedure accuracy 
increases.)

8. Enable emission again from the SuperK laser.

9. Repeat the spot adjustment as described in step 5 to obtain the best spot 

brightness and minimized halo.

10. Disable emission.

Fine alignment of the FDS

Conducting the fine alignment procedure optimizes the output power. Fine 
alignment of the optical beam is adjusted by fine tuning of the alignment 
thumbscrews in pairs while measuring the output from the FD.

The pairs are indicated by either an “I” or “II” symbol (see 

Figure

). The alignment 

thumbscrews can steer the beam path along the vertical and horizontal 
directions (direction I and direction II). Follow the steps in 

Procedure 5

 to fine 

align the CONNECT.

Warning: 

 A SuperK system should not be operated at full power if the fiber cou-

pling efficiency to its fiber delivery system (FDS) has not been optimized. Operat-
ing a fiber delivery system in a poor coupling state for extended periods of time
may be detrimental to the performance of and/or permanently damage the fiber
delivery system. 

Warning: 

 With an optimized coupling to the fiber delivery system, the input power

to the fiber delivery system (FDS) should be limited to below 500 mW.

Pin-hole

Beveled end - inserted

Bea

m

 from CONNECT

Beam target

Main beam spot centered in its halo

Summary of Contents for SuperK CONNECT

Page 1: ...SuperK CONNECT and Fiber Delivery System PRODUCT GUIDE Emission beam to fiber interface Item 800 630 01 ...

Page 2: ...or to fiber to collimator Item number A502 0 1 6 10 0 020 FDS standard fiber PM FD1 FD6 and FD10 with Collimator Collimator to PM fiber to collimator Item number A502 0 1 6 10 0 120 FDS LMA fiber FD7 FD9 with FC APC or FC PC connector Collimator to LMA fiber to FC APC or FC PC connector Item number A502 0 7 9 0 0 0 1 0 FDS LMA fiber PM FD7 FD9 with FC APC or FC PC connector Collimator to LMA PM fi...

Page 3: ...minology The guide may refer to the SuperK CONNECT as just the CONNECT and a Fiber Delivery collimator with fiber may be referred to as an FD Both the CONNECT and Fiber Delivery together are referred to as the Fiber Delivery System or FDS Target Audience This guide is for technical personnel involved in the selection planning and deployment of lasers and photonic equipment in laboratory and indust...

Page 4: ...ote Highlights additional information related to the associated topic and or pro vides links or the name of the NKTP guides describing the additional information Caution Alerts you to a potential hazard that could cause loss of data or damage the system or equipment Warning The laser safety warning alerts you to potential serious injury that may be caused when using a laser with the accessory Revi...

Page 5: ...screws 14 Alignment tool 14 Horizontal and vertical mounting 15 Reversible coupler holder 15 Armored cable 15 Safety labels 16 2 Installation 17 Mounting the CONNECT 17 VIS or IR SuperK CONNECT orientation 17 3 Optical Alignment 21 Aligning the FDS 21 Tools list 21 Pre alignment 21 Coarse alignment 22 Fine alignment of the FDS 24 Tips for steering the beam path 26 How to use the thumbscrews 26 ...

Page 6: ... transmission 31 Connectors and mating fiber light guides 31 Output coupling 31 PM Fibers and keying 32 Key alignment 32 Fiber and connector care 32 Cleaning of fiber facets 33 Cleaning tools 33 A Specifications 35 B Service and Support Information 37 Servicing 37 Opening the chassis 37 WARRANTY VOID IF REMOVED label 37 Support contact details 38 Support website 38 Shipping address 38 ...

Page 7: ...7 TABLES Table 1 Fiber delivery models single mode cut off 14 Table 2 FD Fiber wavelength and transmission characteristics 35 ...

Page 8: ...8 ...

Page 9: ...ber delivery unit input coupler to FC APC output 18 Figure 9 Aligning the coupler key 19 Figure 10 SuperK CONNECT lock screw 19 Figure 11 Pre alignment horizontal mount 22 Figure 12 Coarse alignment Alignment tool inserted 23 Figure 13 Coarse alignment spot adjustment 24 Figure 14 Fine alignment power measurement 26 Figure 15 Alignment screw pair markings 27 Figure 16 Sliding the alignment tool 28...

Page 10: ...10 ...

Page 11: ...17 Procedure 2 Installing an FD module 18 Procedure 3 Pre alignment 21 Procedure 4 Coarse alignment 23 Procedure 5 Fine Alignment of the assembled Fiber Delivery System 25 Procedure 6 Obtaining the optimum beam pattern and or power 27 Procedure 7 Improving the coarse alignment 29 ...

Page 12: ...12 ...

Page 13: ... manual adjustment using thumbscrews that pivot the mirrors on two axes perpendicular to each other Depending on the FD model the beam exits the FD from either a fiber connector or collimator Multiple FD models are available these are characterized by their exit connectors and by their fiber type as shown in Table 1 Note A SuperK CONNECT of an FDS is specified for either IR or VIS wavelength bands...

Page 14: ...il the coupling efficiency of the light entering the fiber is optimized see the chapter Optical Alignment on page 21 on how to align the beam Alignment tool An alignment tool is included with the Fiber Delivery System It can help accurately align the CONNECT emission to center it with the fiber input coupler The tool is a steel shaft with a center tube that has a pinhole pupil near the beveled end...

Page 15: ...er can be securely held by tightening the holder lock screw For some mounting orientations the lock access could be blocked In this case the holder can be re inserted on the opposite side of the CONNECT by unfastening its lock screw and moving the holder assembly to the opposite side of the CONNECT Figure 3 Input coupler spring loaded lock Armored cable For rugged applications armored fiber is equ...

Page 16: ...e fiber cable The serial and product number of the FD is printed on the back of the label Figure 4 FD laser aperture label front and rear Wavelength Coverage Each fiber covers a certain part of the spectrum The fiber spectral range and FD type is specified by a label on the cable Figure 5 Fiber spectral range and FD type label Warning The input coupler of an FD is labeled with an input power warni...

Page 17: ...screws select a vertical or horizontal orientation see VIS or IR SuperK CONNECT orientation below and fasten the SuperK CONNECT to the port 5 Install the FD following the steps in Procedure 2 VIS or IR SuperK CONNECT orientation The correct orientation of a SuperK CONNECT with respect to the optical output port of the CONNECT depends on whether or not the output is coupled to a polarization mainta...

Page 18: ...ler to FC APC output 1 Ensure the SuperK laser is still off and if possible disconnect its power source 2 Insert the FD coupler into the CONNECT output port until its collar is flush against the SuperK CONNECT To insert the coupler completely the key on the collar of the coupler must be aligned with the slot on the CONNECT output aperture as shown in Figure 9 Vertical mounting Horizontal mounting ...

Page 19: ...gure 10 Figure 10 SuperK CONNECT lock screw Note The lock screw may be mounted on either side of the SuperK CONNECT If you cannot access the screw unfasten and remove the lock screw assembly and install it on the opposite side of the CONNECT You may need to remove the CON NECT from its mounting location to gain access See Reversible coupler holder on page 15 Key Key slot Lock screw ...

Page 20: ...Mounting the CONNECT 20 ...

Page 21: ... output port of the CONNECT during coarse alignment Follow the procedures below to align and couple the beam with the fiber of the FDS 1 Procedure 3 Pre alignment 2 Procedure 4 Coarse alignment 3 Procedure 5 Fine Alignment of the assembled Fiber Delivery System Note For laser operating instructions refer to your SuperK laser s Product Guide Tools list Alignment tool see Alignment tool on page 14 P...

Page 22: ...ng the beam until it is visually centered in the output port as shown in Figure 6 Refer to How to use the thumbscrews on page 26 Figure 11 Pre alignment horizontal mountII 6 Disable emission Coarse alignment Caution Before shipping all SuperK CONNECTs are pre aligned and coarse aligned at the factory ONLY perform the coarse alignment procedure if the align ment has been drastically altered Warning...

Page 23: ...ment tool inserted Figure 12 Coarse alignment Alignment tool inserted 2 Tighten the lock screw so that the alignment tool is firmly held in the output port This increases the accuracy of the alignment 3 Enable emission from the SuperK laser 4 The beam enters the alignment tool In order to exit the alignment tool the beam must be centered with the pinhole sized pupil machined inside the tube see Fi...

Page 24: ...screws in pairs while measuring the output from the FD The pairs are indicated by either an I or II symbol see Figure The alignment thumbscrews can steer the beam path along the vertical and horizontal directions direction I and direction II Follow the steps in Procedure 5 to fine align the CONNECT Warning A SuperK system should not be operated at full power if the fiber cou pling efficiency to it...

Page 25: ...gnment on page 29 8 To achieve the best output level adjust the optical alignment using the four alignment thumbscrews on the CONNECT as described in steps 9 and 10 Also refer to the section Tips for steering the beam path on page 26 9 Adjust the alignment thumbscrews pairs marked I one after the other until the maximum output level is achieved Once pair I is aligned i e at maximum power repeat th...

Page 26: ...ition One method for obtaining the optimum beam position is described in Procedure 6 The thumbscrews pairs move the beam either left right or up down but this depends on the CONNECT mounting orientation as described in the following CONNECT mounted horizontally Thumbscrew pair I each mirror pivots such that the beam is steered up and down y axis perpendicular to its longitudinal axis Thumbscrew pa...

Page 27: ... and values in the beam pattern quality and or power as you move the beam across the mirrors 4 From your observations set the thumbscrews of the axis to the best pattern quality and or power 5 Repeat steps 1 to 4 using the thumbscrews of the other axis Note As you move from coarse alignment to fine alignment the sensitivity of the thumbscrews increases Therefore when performing a fine alignment wi...

Page 28: ...ypical accessory is composed of a main peak and it s associated out of band OOB side lobes OOB side lobes may occur due to diffraction effects from the accessory optics The center and side lobes are distributed spatially on the beam front False peak Because of this spatial distribution the first order side lobe may have been inadvertently coupled to the fiber instead of the main peak This means wh...

Page 29: ...ith a check mark in Figure 13 At the optimum alignment point the halo will be minimized 3 Once the spot is centralized the mirrors are correctly aligned the beam exits the pupil of the offset pin hole with the least loss No power measured at start of fine alignment In the event that even after coarse alignment no beam emerges from an FD inserted into the CONNECT do the following 1 While holding a ...

Page 30: ...of the fiber facet is mounted slightly out of positional tolerance within the input coupler In these cases you must use the thumbscrews to move the beam slightly positioning the beam onto the fiber facet Once on the facet you can use the power meter and the mirror thumbscrews to position the beam to the optimal acceptance angle ...

Page 31: ...uces the possible single mode transmission bandwidth However SMF fiber is flexible in that is supports coupling with subsequent fibers through butt joints using FC type connectors Photonic Crystal Fiber A key property of Photonic Crystal Fiber PCF is that it only allows transmission of single mode wavelengths Higher order modes are leaked due to a special hollow channel arrangement that surrounds ...

Page 32: ...st axis of the fiber The slow axis is close to parallel with the stress rod structure e g PANDA structure and the fast axis is close to perpendicular with the stress rod structure On a non PM fiber the key is not aligned but arbitrarily set The key on the input coupler is aligned correspondingly with the key on the output connector Fiber and connector care The fiber and its connectors are inspecte...

Page 33: ...while under illumination may be necessary to discover irregularities often hidden under certain angles of light Warning Ensure the laser is disabled before inspecting fiber facets Cleaning tools When cleaning the facet only use cleaning tools that are specifically designed to be used with optical fibers Always use extreme caution when cleaning fibers Examples of appropriate cleaning tools are a le...

Page 34: ...Fiber and connector care 34 ...

Page 35: ...5 650 nm FD4 730 30 nm 70 from 730 to 1150 nm 80 950 nm FD4 PM 710 60 nm 65 from 710 to 1100 nm 70 900 nm FD5 930 40 nm 50 from 930 to 1550 nm 65 1350 nm FD5 PM 900 70 nm 50 from 900 to 1500 nm 60 1200 nm FD6 1260 40 nm 30 from 1260 to 1900 nm 40 1650 nm FD6 PM 1200 70 nm 30 from 1200 to 1900 nm 35 1700 nm FD7 400 nm 70 from 450 to 1050 nm 80 750 nm FD7 PM 400 nm 70 from 450 to 950 nm 80 600 nm FD...

Page 36: ...36 2 ...

Page 37: ...gur e 20 Warranty seal Caution The accessory contains electro static discharge ESD sensitive compo nents To avoid permanent ESD damage use ESD protection precautions when handling the accessory Always connect the accessory s earth point to a ground earth within your facility Opening the chassis There are no user serviceable components inside the accessory chassis Should your accessory malfunction ...

Page 38: ...hotonics through our support website below Support website 1 Go to https www nktphotonics com lasers fibers support technical support and customer service 2 Scroll down and click or press 3 Select the help type fill in the form and click or press Submit Shipping address NKT Photonics A S Blokken 84 DK 3460 Birkerød Denmark 2 ...

Page 39: ...1 ...

Page 40: ...SuperK Fiber Delivery System Product Description Revision 1 0 08 2021 W 10456 ...

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