Temperature control of C02 laser glass melting for fiber processing technology

摘要

The increasing demand for reliable, compact and low-cost optical components has been driving the development of very high precision glass shaping platforms. In the medical field for example, ball lenses are used for eye surgery or diffusors to destroy cancer cells in tumors, ball lenses are also used with catheters for the purposes of illumination during laparoscopic surgery. The fabrication of these all-fiber miniature components requires a high level of motion accuracy along with a well-controlled heating technology. Carbon dioxide (CO2) lasers are proven to be the most responsive heating source that offers the flexibility and resolution needed for the fabrication of these optical components. In this paper, we propose a novel glass temperature stabilization technique that improves the accuracy of heating with a CO2 lasers. This method is based on direct measurement and active stabilization of the glass temperature and can be used to enable the processing of specialty glasses, to increase the level of process control and improving manufacturing throughput yields.