Channel scalable, coherent beam combined laser

A pulsed fiber laser system comprising:

• a seed laser configured to generate signal light;
• and
• a phase modulator coupled to the seed laser to phase modulate the signal light;
• a first gain stage coupled to the phase modulator to amplify the phase-modulated signal light;
• a fiber optical acousto-optic modulator (AOM) coupled to pulse the amplified phase-modulated signal light;
• a second gain stage coupled to the fiber AOM to amplify the pulsed signal light;
• a splitter coupled to the second gain stage to split the pulsed signal light into a plurality of pulsed signals;
• a plurality of channels each coupled to the splitter to receive a corresponding one of the plurality of pulsed signals, each of the plurality of channels comprising one or more gain stages to amplify the corresponding one of the plurality of pulsed signals and a transition of the amplified signal to free space;
• and
• a beam combiner coupled to combine, in free space, the amplified signals of the plurality of channels.