Micro-Structured Optical Fibre for High Power Laser Beam Delivery

This project will build on an existing partnership with Mitsubishi to model and fabricate micro-structured optical fibre with very large single-mode areas tailored for the delivery of kW-power laser beams.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan use powerful fibre lasers to cut and weld 40mm thick steel plates to manufactures large boilers for gas-fired power stations.

However, they can’t deliver the laser beam 100m across their factory to the weld site without degrading the power and beam quality.

The project will involve some computer modelling work to understand laser beam guidance in optical fibres as well as assisting in various stages of fibre fabrication.

Supervisor