Integrated spectral and all-fiber coherent beam combination

A fiber amplifier system comprising:

• a plurality of master oscillators each generating a signal beam at a different wavelength;
• a plurality of splitters each receiving one of the signal beams and splitting the signal beam into a plurality of fiber beams;
• a plurality of phase modulators including a separate phase modulator for each fiber being split by each splitter, said phase modulators each receiving one of the fiber beams and providing phase modulation;
• a plurality of fiber amplifiers where a separate fiber amplifier is provided for each fiber beam, each fiber amplifier receiving a fiber beam from one of the phase modulators, said fiber amplifiers amplifying the fiber beam, said fiber amplifiers each including an output end;
• a plurality of tapered fiber bundles where a separate tapered fiber bundle is provided for each master oscillator wavelength fiber beam group, each tapered fiber bundle including an input end and an output end, said input end of each tapered fiber bundle being coupled to the output end of all of the fiber amplifiers that receive the same wavelength signal beam, said output end of each tapered fiber bundle being a combined fiber including a portion of all of the fiber amplifiers receiving the same wavelength signal beam with fiber cores in a single fiber mass, each tapered fiber bundle outputting a combined beam at the wavelength received by the fiber amplifiers;
• a plurality of end caps where a separate end cap is optically coupled to the output end of each tapered fiber bundle, said end caps expanding the combined beam from the tapered fiber bundle;
• a collimating and magnifying telescope receiving the combined beams from the end caps, said collimating a magnifying telescope expanding and collimating the combined beams;
• a plurality of phase detectors where a separate phase detector is provided for each separate signal beam wavelength and a plurality of synchronous phase processor where a separate phase processor is provided for each signal beam wavelength, each phase detector detecting the phase of the fiber beams for each signal beam wavelength and providing phase measurement signals to one of the phase processors, said phase processors controlling the phase modulators to control the optical phase of the fiber beams in the fiber amplifiers in response to the phase measurement signals;
• a spectral beam combination (SBC) grating receiving all of the combined beams from the tapered fiber bundles at different angles and outputting an output beam of all of the combined beams as a single beam being directed in the same direction;
• and
• a plurality of pre-dispersion gratings where a separate pre-dispersion grating receives one of the combined beams for a single master oscillator wavelength, said pre-dispersion gratings providing dispersion compensation for the SBC grating, each of the pre-dispersion gratings directing the dispersion compensated combined beam to the SBC grating.

A fiber amplifier system comprising:

• a plurality of master oscillators each generating a signal beam at a different wavelength;
• a plurality of splitters each receiving one of the signal beams and splitting the signal beam into a plurality of fiber beams;
• a plurality of phase modulators including a separate phase modulator for each fiber being split by each splitter, said phase modulators each receiving one of the fiber beams and providing phase modulation;
• a plurality of fiber amplifiers where a separate fiber amplifier is provided for each fiber beam, each fiber amplifier receiving a fiber beam from one of the phase modulators, said fiber amplifiers amplifying the fiber beam, said fiber amplifiers each including an output end;
• a plurality of tapered fiber bundles where a separate tapered fiber bundle is provided for each master oscillator wavelength fiber beam group, each tapered fiber bundle including an input end and an output end, said input end of each tapered fiber bundle being coupled to the output end of all of the fiber amplifiers that receive the same wavelength signal beam, said output end of each tapered fiber bundle being a combined fiber including a portion of all of the fiber amplifiers receiving the same wavelength signal beam with fiber cores in a single fiber mass, each tapered fiber bundle outputting a combined beam at the wavelength received by the fiber amplifiers;
• a plurality of end caps where a separate end cap is optically coupled to the output end of each tapered fiber bundle, said end caps expanding the combined beam from the tapered fiber bundle;
• a collimating and magnifying telescope receiving the combined beams from the end caps, said collimating a magnifying telescope expanding and collimating the combined beams;
• a plurality of phase detectors where a separate phase detector is provided for each separate signal beam wavelength and a plurality of synchronous phase processor where a separate phase processor is provided for each signal beam wavelength, each phase detector detecting the phase of the fiber beams for each signal beam wavelength and providing phase measurement signals to one of the phase processors, said phase processors controlling the phase modulators to control the optical phase of the fiber beams in the fiber amplifiers in response to the phase measurement signals;
• a spectral beam combination (SBC) grating receiving all of the combined beams from the tapered fiber bundles at different angles and outputting an output beam of all of the combined beams as a single beam being directed in the same direction;
• and
• a single pre-dispersion grating that receives all of the combined beams from the tapered fiber bundles, said pre-dispersion grating providing dispersion compensation for the combined beams;
• and
• a staircase mirror having steps at different heights, each staircase mirror step receiving one of the combined beams from the dispersion grating and directing the combined beam to the SBC grating.