Efficient coherent beam combining of fiber lasers based on joint multiple access

Abstract

Coherent beam combination (CBC) is a promising method of obtaining high-power and high-brightness laser output. To further enhance the combination capacity of CBC systems, we present a novel phase-control technique based on joint multiple access. Using this technique, the CBC of eight fiber lasers is successfully demonstrated. When the phase-control system is in the closed loop, the residual phase error is less than λ/36. According to the experimental results, the average phase-control speed of the CBC system is nearly four times as much as that of the single-frequency dithering technique.