Patent ID: 8755654

Claim:
A method of laser preparing an end portion of an optical fiber, comprising: emitting a laser beam from a laser; removing at least a portion of a coating from an end portion of an optical fiber by: deflecting the laser beam at an angle theta repeatedly across an optical axis of the optical fiber with a control system to form at least two sets of laser scans; and directing the laser beam with the control system to position respective scans of the at least two sets of laser scans to intersect the optical axis of the optical fiber at a plurality of radial positions, the plurality of radial positions are equally distributed or substantially equally distributed about a circumference of the optical fiber; and cleaving the end portion of the optical fiber by: removing at least a portion of the circumference of the optical fiber by deflecting the laser beam at an angle repeatedly across the optical axis of the optical fiber with the control system to form at least two cleave sets of laser cleave scans; and directing the laser beam with the control system to position respective laser cleave scans of the at least two cleave sets of laser cleave scans to intersect the optical axis of the optical fiber at the plurality of radial positions.