Light system for supplying light

Abstract

A light system having a light supply arrangement, a Homogenizing Light Pipe (HLP) and a fiber bundle. The light supply arrangement includes a light source and is arranged to supply light to an input end of the HLP. The HLP is configured for scrambling the received light and for delivering a beam of light to a common packed input end of the fiber bundle.

1 . A light system comprising:
 a light supply arrangement comprising:
 a laser light source having a bandwidth that spans over an emitted wavelength range of at least about 100 nm; and 
 a wavelength filter that is wavelength tunable and configured to filter a wavelength range from the emitted wavelength range; 
   a Homogenizing Light Pipe, HLP, wherein the HLP is configured for scrambling the light; and   a fiber bundle comprising a common packed input end configured to receive scrambled light from the HLP.   
     
     
         2 . The light system according to  claim 1 , wherein the wavelength filter is configured for filtering off two or more wavelength ranges from the emitted wavelength range. 
     
     
         3 . The light system according to  claim 1 , wherein the laser light source is one of the lasers: a fiber laser, a solid-state laser, and a semiconductor laser. 
     
     
         4 . The light system according to  claim 1 , wherein the laser light source comprises two or more lasers. 
     
     
         5 . The light system according to  claim 4 , wherein the lasers is a combination of the lasers where each laser light source is one of the lasers: a fiber laser, a solid-state laser, and a semiconductor laser. 
     
     
         6 . The light system according to  claim 1 , wherein the bandwidth spans over a wavelength range of at least about 500 nm. 
     
     
         7 . The light system according to  claim 1 , wherein the laser light source is a supercontinuum light source. 
     
     
         8 . The light system according to  claim 1 , wherein the wavelength filter is a band pass filter. 
     
     
         9 . The light system according to  claim 8 , wherein the wavelength filter is an Acousto Optic Tunable Filter, AOTF. 
     
     
         10 . The light system according to  claim 1 , wherein the light supply arrangement comprises at least two wavelength filters for filtering off two or more wavelength ranges from an input light beam. 
     
     
         11 . The light system according to  claim 1 , wherein the HLP scrambles the light such that the light at an output end of the HLP has a substantially cross-sectional uniformity, whereby the light at the output end of the HLP has a uniform modal power distribution. 
     
     
         12 . The light system of according to  claim 1 , wherein the laser light source is configured for generating a light beam with a first beam quality factor, M 2 , and the HLP scrambles the light beam such that the first beam quality factor increases to a second beam quality factor, wherein the second beam quality factor is at least 10% larger than the first beam quality factor. 
     
     
         13 . The light system according to  claim 12 , wherein the second beam quality factor is at least about 50% larger than the first beam quality factor. 
     
     
         14 . The light system according to  claim 1 , wherein the light system further comprises a wavelength combiner. 
     
     
         15 . The light system according to  claim 14 , wherein the wavelength combiner is a Wavelength Division Multiplexer, WDM. 
     
     
         16 . The light system according to  claim 14 , wherein the wavelength combiner is configured for combining light from one or more wavelength filters and/or from one or more light sources. 
     
     
         17 . The light system according to  claim 14 , wherein the wavelength combiner is configured for combing beams comprising different wavelengths. 
     
     
         18 . The light system according to  claim 1 , wherein the light system further comprises at least one beam conditioner configured for beam shaping the light prior to being scrambled by the HLP. 
     
     
         19 . The light system according to  claim 18 , wherein the beam conditioner comprises a diffuser. 
     
     
         20 . The light system according to  claim 18 , wherein the beam conditioner comprises a diverging lens. 
     
     
         21 . The light system according to  claim 18 , wherein the beam conditioner comprises a plano-concave lens. 
     
     
         22 . The light system according to  claim 18 , wherein the beam conditioner comprises a micro lens array. 
     
     
         23 . The light system according to  claim 18 , wherein the beam conditioner comprises a gradient index lens, GRIN. 
     
     
         24 . The light system according to  claim 18 , wherein the beam conditioner is arranged for free space delivery to the HLP. 
     
     
         25 . The light system according to  claim 18 , wherein the beam conditioner is coupled by coupling to the HLP. 
     
     
         26 . The light system according to  claim 25 , wherein the coupling is a butt coupling. 
     
     
         27 . The light system according to  claim 25 , wherein the coupling is a splicing. 
     
     
         28 . A sensing apparatus comprising the light system according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
         29 . The sensing apparatus according to  claim 18 , wherein the wavelength filter is configured for scanning the wavelength range through the bandwidth of the emitted wavelength range. 
     
     
         30 . The sensing apparatus according to  claim 18 , wherein the sensing apparatus further comprises a camera to image a part of the light from the light system.