High-power, phase-locked, laser arrays
First Claim
1. A method for producing mutually-coherent operation of a plurality of light emitters, each of the emitters outputting a respective power and brightness, the method comprising:
- mixing respective beams received from each of the plurality of emitters;
combining the mixed beams in a beam-combining element to form a composite beam containing a respective contribution from each of the emitters; and
feeding back through the beam-combining element at least a portion of the light containing the respective contribution from each of the emitters, the portion having a selected wavelength,wherein the portion is fed back into the emitters in such a way that each of the emitters receives narrowband light from every other emitter, andwherein mutually coherent operation of the plurality of emitters is achieved such that each of the emitters lases at the selected wavelength with a phase difference that results in a coherent output beam that effectively combines the powers from each of the emitters such that the output beam has a brightness that is greater than the brightnesses of the individual emitters.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
High-power, phased-locked, laser arrays as disclosed herein utilize a system of optical elements that may be external to the laser oscillator array. Such an external optical system may achieve mutually coherent operation of all the emitters in a laser array, and coherent combination of the output of all the lasers in the array into a single beam. Such an “external gain harness” system may include: an optical lens/mirror system that mixes the output of all the emitters in the array; a holographic optical element that combines the output of all the lasers in the array, and an output coupler that selects a single path for the combined output and also selects a common operating frequency for all the coupled gain regions.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method for producing mutually-coherent operation of a plurality of light emitters, each of the emitters outputting a respective power and brightness, the method comprising:
-
mixing respective beams received from each of the plurality of emitters; combining the mixed beams in a beam-combining element to form a composite beam containing a respective contribution from each of the emitters; and feeding back through the beam-combining element at least a portion of the light containing the respective contribution from each of the emitters, the portion having a selected wavelength, wherein the portion is fed back into the emitters in such a way that each of the emitters receives narrowband light from every other emitter, and wherein mutually coherent operation of the plurality of emitters is achieved such that each of the emitters lases at the selected wavelength with a phase difference that results in a coherent output beam that effectively combines the powers from each of the emitters such that the output beam has a brightness that is greater than the brightnesses of the individual emitters. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification