Two-dimensional multi-beam stabilizer and combining systems and methods
First Claim
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1. A multi-beam stabilizer and combining system comprising:
- a wavelength stabilizer having a dispersive dimension and a non-dispersive dimension, the wavelength stabilizer comprising;
an array of beam emitters each (i) having front and back facets and (ii) emitting a beam from the front facet,one or more first optical elements (i) having power along the dispersive dimension of the wavelength stabilizer and (ii) arranged to receive the emitted beams and parallelize chief rays of the emitted beams, anda first dispersive element arranged to receive the beams from the one or more first optical elements and disperse the beams into at least two orders, wherein one of the orders is reflected back to the array of beam emitters by a feedback element, thereby forming a resonator between the back facet of each beam emitter and the feedback element that stabilizes the beam emitted by each beam emitter to a unique wavelength; and
a wavelength combiner having a dispersive dimension and a non-dispersive dimension, the wavelength combiner comprising;
one or more second optical elements, different from the one or more first optical elements, arranged to receive the wavelength-stabilized beams and cause the beams to converge along a beam-combining dimension, anda second dispersive element, different from the first dispersive element, positioned along a beam-combining dimension, to receive the plurality of converging beams, and transmit the beams as a multi-wavelength output.
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Abstract
A system and method for stabilizing and combining multiple emitted beams into a single system using both WBC and WDM techniques.
12 Citations
34 Claims
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1. A multi-beam stabilizer and combining system comprising:
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a wavelength stabilizer having a dispersive dimension and a non-dispersive dimension, the wavelength stabilizer comprising; an array of beam emitters each (i) having front and back facets and (ii) emitting a beam from the front facet, one or more first optical elements (i) having power along the dispersive dimension of the wavelength stabilizer and (ii) arranged to receive the emitted beams and parallelize chief rays of the emitted beams, and a first dispersive element arranged to receive the beams from the one or more first optical elements and disperse the beams into at least two orders, wherein one of the orders is reflected back to the array of beam emitters by a feedback element, thereby forming a resonator between the back facet of each beam emitter and the feedback element that stabilizes the beam emitted by each beam emitter to a unique wavelength; and a wavelength combiner having a dispersive dimension and a non-dispersive dimension, the wavelength combiner comprising; one or more second optical elements, different from the one or more first optical elements, arranged to receive the wavelength-stabilized beams and cause the beams to converge along a beam-combining dimension, and a second dispersive element, different from the first dispersive element, positioned along a beam-combining dimension, to receive the plurality of converging beams, and transmit the beams as a multi-wavelength output. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A multi-beam stabilizer and combining system comprising:
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a wavelength stabilizer having a dispersive dimension and a non-dispersive dimension, the wavelength stabilizer comprising; an array of beam emitters each (i) having front and back facets and (ii) emitting a beam, one or more first optical elements (i) having power along the dispersive dimension of the wavelength stabilizer and (ii) arranged to receive the emitted beams and converge chief rays of the emitted beams, and a first dispersive element arranged to receive the beams from the one or more first optical elements and disperse the beams into at least two orders, wherein one of the orders is reflected back to the array of beam emitters by a feedback element, thereby forming a resonator between the back facet of each beam emitter and the feedback element that stabilizes the beam emitted by each beam emitter to a unique wavelength; and a wavelength combiner having a dispersive dimension and a non-dispersive dimension, the wavelength combiner comprising; a second dispersive element, different from the first dispersive element, (i) having power along a beam-combining dimension, and (ii) arranged to receive the wavelength-stabilized beams and combine the beams into a multi-wavelength output. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of stabilizing and combining an array of emitters each emitting a beam, the method comprising:
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forming a stabilizer cavity wherein each emitter forms a resonator with an external reflective surface to thereby stabilize the beam emitted by each emitter to a unique wavelength, wherein each beam emitted by the array of emitters is introduced to a first dispersive element disposed within the resonator; transmitting the beams of the stabilizer from the first dispersive element into a wavelength combiner comprising (i) at least one combining optical element and (ii) a second dispersive element; and combining the beams along one dimension to form a multi-wavelength beam output that is transmitted away from the array of emitters. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34)
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Specification