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23 February 2017

Coherent receives prestigious 2017 Prism Award

Coherent | Nufern has received the prestigious 2017 Prism Award for Photonics Innovation for their NuBEAM Flat-Top fibre technology.  The Prism Awards, sponsored by the SPIE and Photonics Media, recognise photonics-based products which exhibit exceptional innovation and design, and which are expected to have a significant market impact.  This year, over 150 products were submitted, from which nine winners, including Coherent | Nufern, were selected. 

NuBEAM Flat fibre technology enables efficient conversion of both single-mode and multimode laser beams into flat-top (uniform) beam profiles for a range of applications at power levels from a few Watts to multi-kilowatts.  Previously, this type of beam profile conversion relied on complex, free-space, high cost optical assemblies, but now, a single fibre can be used as a simple drop-in replacement.  The benefit of this dramatically streamlined approach is improved optical system efficiency, greater product reliability, an easier assembly for the manufacturer, better cost-effectiveness and more compact, lightweight optical assemblies. 

The transformation of Gaussian beams into a flat top profile is useful in a variety of applications.  For example, in laser-assisted material processing it delivers the ability to output a target beam profile product (BPP) from a system, which is necessary in order to produce high-quality processing results.  Moreover, in many illumination applications, NuBEAM fibre enables simple homogenisation of multi-mode beams into a uniform cross section, while maintaining beam brightness, which is a particularly desirable combination.  NuBEAM Flat-Top fibre technology also facilitates delivering a uniform beam, having precisely the required beam divergence, to fill the core of a fibre in order to maximise efficiency in laser pumping and amplifier applications.


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