| 摘要 |
Apparatus 110 and methods for the coherent beam combining of three beams 101, 102, 103 from laser sources. In one embodiment, a two-beam coherent combiner 27 comprises two laser sources 1, 2, a repeated pattern optical element 22 that functions as a two port diffractive beam combining element, and a method for adjusting the relative phase difference between the two beams to improve the combined beam 23 output. In another embodiment, a three-beam coherent beam combiner 110 comprises three laser sources 101, 102, 103, a repeated pattern optical element 111 that functions as a three port diffractive beam combining element, and a method for adjusting the relative phase difference between the three beams to improve the combined beam 123 output. The apparatus 27, 110 and methods disclosed can be used in external cavity laser configurations 200, 300 to combine two or three laser resonator gain paths into phased paths for improved single wavelength combined beam performance. |
| 主权项 |
1. A coherent laser beam combiner comprising:
a set of three or less laser beams (101) (102) (103), wherein each laser beam (101) (102) (103) has optical radiation having the same wavelength and is directed toward a beam overlap region (108) at specified angles (105) (106); and a repeated pattern optical element (111) having at least two repeated patterns (18), having a repeated pattern period (19), having diffraction efficiency in at least two diffraction orders, having diffraction efficiency in at least two angles, placed near the overlap region (108), configured to receive the three or less laser beams (101) (102) (103), and positioned in two-directions of translation (114) to phase the three or less laser beams (101) (102) (103) improving coherent combining efficiency. |
