Controlling the polarization structure of vector beams synthesized by a fiber laser array

Abstract

In our earlier paper [Adamov, E. V., Aksenov, V. P., Dudorov, V. V., Kolosov, V. V., & Levitskii, M. E. (2022). Controlling the spatial structure of vector beams synthesized by a fiber laser array. Optics & Laser Technology, 154, 108,351], we presented the method to control the spatial intensity distribution of a beam synthesized as a result of coherent combining of subbeams from an array of phase-controlled fiber radiation sources, each subbeam characterized by its own direction of linear polarization. In this paper, we consider theoretically and experimentally the feasibility of controlling the polarization structure of such synthesized beams by changing the phase relations between individual subbeams. It is shown that for fixed polarization directions of the subbeams, the nonuniform polarization distribution of the synthesized beam, whose character depends on the phase relations and polarization directions of the subbeams, can be controlled via a change of only subbeam phases.