Properly channel laser light around with Homebrew fiber couplings

He's a rare person who can take a cheap laser pointer and not wield it like a lightsaber or phaser, complete with sound effects. There's just something about the "pew-pew" factor that makes projecting a laser beam fun, even if it's not the safest thing to do, or the most efficient way to pass the light from one place to another.

We suspect that [Les Wright] worked his way through more than a few laser projects in his lab, including his latest experiments with fiber coupling lasers. The video below is packed with advice on connecting inexpensive communications-grade fiber assemblies, which, despite their standardized terminations, aren't always easy to use with his collection of lasers. Part of the challenge is that the optical fiber inside the sheath is often very small - as little as 9 microns. It's a small target to hit without an alignment aid, which [Les] uses a range of hacks to accomplish.

The meat of the video shows how to use an inexpensive fiber fault locator and a simple optical bench setup to accurately align any laser with an optical fiber. A pair of steerable mirrors allows it to precisely superimpose the beams of the flaw locator and the target laser. The effects can be interesting; we had no idea that communications-grade fiber could let so much light through the coating, and the limits of bend radius are illustrated quite dramatically. [Les] teases some handy detection apps for this in a follow-up video, which we look forward to.

Looking for more laser fun with your remaining eye? Check out [Marco Reps] 200kW fiber laser teardown.