Pump and signal combiners are fiber optical passive devices used to couple power from multimode (MM) pump sources to the first cladding of a double clad fiber. This can be done either with a single mode or polarization-maintaining fiber. These optical devices provide high power throughput for splicing into a fiber laser or fiber amplifier, and the light travels unidirectionally only.

Pump and signal combiners are available in a (N+1)x1 configuration, which combines n number of pump sources with a single signal source. These combiners are perfect for system integration, allowing for the customization of any application.

Combiners are used in applications such as industrial, defense, medical and telecom. These devices are made of fused fiber which is necessary for the power handling needs of these industries.

They have features such as high-power transfer efficiency, low signal insertion loss, wavelength insensitivity, etc.

Different Construction Designs of Pump and Signal Combiners

Pump and signal combiners help combine different pump lasers and couple their power with a seed signal.

These combiners are available in different types of variants based on their construction, such as:

  • All-fiber multimode combiners
  • Single-mode combiners
  • Polarization-maintaining combiners

Single-mode and Polarization-maintaining fiber can provide extremely high performance. These combiners ensure efficient coupling into cladding pumped fibers.

A wide variety of custom designs and value-added Gain Module or Laser Assemblies can also be ordered online. (N+1)×1 multimode pump and signal combiners are widely used in high-power fiber lasers and fiber amplifiers.

Where do we use pump and signal combiners?

DK Photonics’ (2+1) ×1 Multimode Pump and Signal Combiner (PSC) is designed for high power applications. A PSC’s applications encompass:

  • Fiber Laser Seed Amplifiers
  • CATV Amplifiers
  • Pumping of fiber lasers and amplifiers

These combiners can be designed for a range of applications. Depending on their applications, they can have a wide range of power handling configurations, number of input fibers and adaptation to different fiber types.

What is the role of pump and signal combiners (PSCs) in fiber lasers?

Fiber lasers are one of the most promising sources for generating high power light waves. The role of the pump and signal combiner in fiber laser applications is to combine the pump signal with the signal to be amplified. This amplified signal is then transmitted down the fiber by total internal reflection. The result is a coherent light beam with a short pulse duration that can be well focused.

These features make fiber lasers very attractive in many applications such as laser cutting, laser welding, laser marking, and many others. However, thermal problems and nonlinearities prevent it from further power scaling.

A bidirectional pump configuration is one of the most common configurations in pump & signal combiner. It is used to increase the pump insertion capability, as well as the nonlinear effect threshold, which contains a forward and backward pump and signal combiner distinctly.

Signal light travels in the same direction in the forward pump and signal combiner and in the counter-direction in the backward pump and signal combiner. This allows drivers to tell which direction they are traveling in both PSCs.

If you need pump and signal combiners for your project, applications, or research, please connect with DK Photonics.