Patent ID: 7602822

Claim:
A method for generating a fiber laser beam output for a laser beam delivery system, the method comprising the steps of: generating a plurality of sequences of laser beam pulses from a fiber laser wherein each pulse of each sequence of pulses being of a single predetermined wavelength and the pulses of each sequence of pulses are separated by a corresponding repetition interval, and combining the plurality of sequences of laser beam pulses into at least one pulse stack output of the single predetermined wavelength that includes a laser beam pulse from each sequence of laser beam pulses and an inter-stack interval between sequential pulse stacks and an inter-pulse interval between the pulses of each pulse stack is determined by an initial firing time and a repetition rate of the pulses of each sequence of pulses; wherein the step of generating a plurality of sequences of laser beam pulses includes the steps of: driving a single optical fiber forming a fiber laser resonant cavity with a plurality of pumping lasers located in corresponding reflective end structures of the resonant cavity wherein each pumping laser corresponds to a sequence of laser beam pulses forming the at least one pulse stack and pumps the optic fiber with a sequence of pulses generated at a corresponding pulse sequence repetition rate, and the step of combining the plurality of sequences of laser beam pulses Into at least one pulse stack is performed in the single fiber optic injection of the pumping pulses from the pumping lasers into the single optic fiber forming the resonant cavity of the fiber laser.