High-Power, Phase-Locked, Laser Arrays
AssigneePD-LD, Inc.
InventorBoris Leonidovich Volodin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
High-power, phased-locked, laser arrays as disclosed herein utilize a system of optical elements that may be external to the laser oscillator array. Such an external optical system may achieve mutually coherent operation of all the emitters in a laser array, and coherent combination of the output of all the lasers in the array into a single beam. Such an “external gain harness” system may include: an optical lens/mirror system that mixes the output of all the emitters in the array; a holographic optical element that combines the output of all the lasers in the array, and an output coupler that selects a single path for the combined output and also selects a common operating frequency for all the coupled gain regions.
Claims17
1-2. (canceled)
A method for producing mutually-coherent operation of a plurality of laser emitters, the method comprising:
- positioning a lens to receive a respective emitted beam from each of the laser emitters;
- positioning a first optical element in a focal plane of the lens such that the first optical element forms a composite beam that contains a respective contribution from each of the emitted beams;
- providing a path selector that allows the composite beam to pass therethrough along a selected optical path;
- and
- positioning a three-dimensional optical element to receive the composite beam along the selected optical path, wherein the three-dimensional optical element causes at least a portion of the composite beam to be reflected back along the optical path, such that the reflected portion is fed back into the emitters in such a way that narrowband light from each of the emitters is fed back into all of the emitters,
- wherein mutually coherent operation of all the emitters is achieved such that each of the emitters lases at the same wavelength.
A method for producing mutually-coherent operation of a plurality of light emitters, each of the emitters outputting a respective power and brightness, the method comprising:
- mixing respective beams received from each of the plurality of emitters;
- forming at least one composite beam containing a respective contribution from each of the emitters;
- and
- feeding back at least a portion of the composite beam a respective contribution from each of the emitters in such a way that mutually coherent operation of the plurality of emitters is achieved such that the emitters lase with a phase difference that results in a coherent output beam from the system that effectively combines the powers from each of the emitters.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.