HIGH-POWER, PHASE-LOCKED, LASER ARRAYS
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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.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1-2. -2. (canceled)
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3. A method for producing mutually-coherent operation of a plurality of light emitters, each of the emitters outputting a respective power, the method comprising:
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combining respective beams received from each of the plurality of emitters to form a composite beam containing a respective contribution from each of the emitters; and feeding back to all of the emitters at least a portion of the composite beam, the portion having a selected wavelength and containing a respective contribution from each of the emitters, wherein mutually coherent operation of all of the emitters is achieved with a phase difference that results in a coherent output beam from the system that effectively combines the powers from each of the emitters. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for producing mutually-coherent operation of a plurality of laser emitters, the method comprising:
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receiving a respective emitted beam from each of the emitters, performing an optical Fourier transform on the emitted beams, and mixing the transformed beams in a focal plane of a lens; positioning in the focal plane of the lens a diffractive, three-dimensional optical element that forms a composite beam that contains a respective contribution from each of the emitted beams, the diffractive optical element having a Bragg grating formed therein; allowing the composite beam to pass through a path selector along a selected optical path; and causing at least a portion of the composite beam to be reflected back along the optical path through the path selector, such that the reflected portion is fed back through the diffractive optical element and the lens into the emitters in such a way that narrowband light from each of the emitters is fed back into all of the emitters, and wherein mutually coherent operation of all the emitters is achieved such that each of the emitters laser at the same wavelength. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. 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:
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combining respective beams received from each of the plurality of emitters to form a composite beam containing a respective contribution from each of the emitters; and feeding back through a 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 laser at the selected wavelength with a phase difference that results in a coherent output beam from the system 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 (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification