Disclosed herein are methods, apparatus, and systems for providing an optical beam delivery device, comprising a first length of fiber comprising a first RIP formed to enable modification of one or more beam characteristics of an optical beam by a perturbation device and a second length of fiber having a second RIP coupled to the first length of fiber, the second RIP formed to confine at least a portion of the modified beam characteristics of the optical beam within one or more confinement regions.

Additive manufacturing systems and methods for fabricating an article are provided. The additive manufacturing system may include a substrate and a layering device configured to fabricate a first layer of the article on the substrate. The layering device may include an optical beam source configured to generate an optical beam and a variable beam characteristics (VBC) fiber operably coupled with the optical beam source and configured to modify one or more beam characteristics, such as a wavelength, of the optical beam.

An optical beam delivery device is configured to generate, from an optical beam, selectable intensity profiles. The device has a first length of fiber having a first refractive index profile (RIP), and a second length of fiber having second RIP that is different from the first RIP. The second length of fiber includes coaxial confinement regions arranged to confine at least a portion of an adjusted optical beam. The confined portion corresponds to an intensity distribution of different intensity distributions. The intensity distribution is established by a corresponding state of different states of perturbation that is applied to the device such that the confined portion is configured to provide, at an output of the second length of fiber, a selected intensity profile of the selectable intensity profiles.

Systems and methods for modifying an optical beam and adjusting one or more beam characteristics of an optical beam are provided. The system may include a first length of fiber operably coupled with an optical beam source and configured to receive an optical beam therefrom. The system may also include a perturbation device operably coupled with the first length of fiber and configured to modify the optical beam traversing therethrough, and a second length of fiber operably coupled with the first length of fiber and configured to receive the modified optical beam therefrom. The system may further include a beam shaping assembly configured to receive the modified optical beam from the second length of fiber, adjust one or more beam characteristics of the modified optical beam, and direct the adjusted optical beam to a downstream process.

A method for forming an article includes providing a material having a first material property; forming a melt pool by exposing the material to an optical beam having at least one beam characteristic, wherein the melt pool has at least one melt pool property determinative of a second material property of the material; and modifying the at least one beam characteristic in response to a change in the melt pool property.

An optical beam delivery device formed of optical fibers that are configured to produce an output exhibiting an intensity distribution profile having non-zero ellipticity includes a first length of fiber through which an incident optical beam having beam characteristics propagates and which has a first refractive index profile (RIP). The first RIP enables, in response to an applied perturbation, modification of the beam characteristics of the optical beam to form an adjusted beam having modified beam characteristics relative to the beam characteristics of the optical beam. A second length of fiber is coupled to the first length of fiber and formed with a set of one or more confinement regions that define a second RIP and confine at least a portion of the adjusted beam to generate, at an output of the second length of fiber, an intensity distribution profile having non-zero ellipticity.

A method of tailoring beam characteristics of a laser beam during fabrication of an electronic device. The method includes: providing a substrate comprising one or more layers; adjusting one or more characteristics of a laser beam; and impinging the laser beam having the adjusted beam characteristics on the substrate to carry out at least one process step for fabricating the electronic device. The adjusting of the laser beam comprises: perturbing the laser beam propagating within a first length of fiber to adjust the one or more beam characteristics of the laser beam in the first length of fiber or a second length of fiber or a combination thereof, the second length of fiber having two or more confinement regions; coupling the perturbed laser beam into the second length of fiber; and emitting the laser beam having the adjusted beam characteristics from the second length of fiber.

A method for forming an article includes providing a material having a first material property; forming a melt pool by exposing the material to an optical beam having at least one beam characteristic, wherein the melt pool has at least one melt pool property determinative of a second material property of the material; and modifying the at least one beam characteristic in response to a change in the melt pool property.

Application of an electric field to nanorods can control their alignment, thus providing techniques for ultra-fast switching and optical modulators, for example those that might serve as display indicators.

For test/calibration of an electro-optic range-finding device, one or more fiber bundles each are selected to have a length corresponding to predetermined time-of-flight for light pulses. An input end is positioned proximate to the laser aperture of the range-finding device to receive a portion of light emitted through the laser aperture, and the output end is positioned to emit light from the respective fiber bundle through the detector aperture of the range-finding device. A fiber attenuator is connected along each fiber of the one or more fiber bundles to attenuate an amplitude of light propagating through the respective fiber by an amount corresponding to a target of known reflectance and distance. The one or more fiber bundles are each coiled to reduce a linear distance over which the one or more fiber bundles extend. The one or more fiber bundles may each comprise a plurality of fibers.