DEVICE AND PASSIVE METHOD FOR THE COHERENT COMBINATION OF A PLURALITY OF OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS

摘要

A passive device for the coherent combination of at least two optical amplifiers, includes an interferometer having at least four branches having optical elements for separating and combining polarization, the elements having four inlet-outlet ports that are respectively connected to a branch. The first branch includes a first polarization element, a first optical amplifier and a first mirror; the second branch includes a second polarization element, a second optical amplifier and a second mirror; the third branch includes a third polarization element and a third mirror; the fourth branch is an inlet-outlet branch of the interferometer. The three polarization elements are designed such that a polarized optical beam entering respectively into the first, second or third branch and reflected by the mirror at the end thereof forms a polarized optical beam leaving the branch with a polarization that is orthogonal to that of the polarized optical beam entering the branch.