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Coherent addition of adjacent lasers by forked eigenstate operation
Applied Optics
|February 15, 2008
Summary
Forked laser eigenstates enable phase locking of separate laser oscillators and coherent power addition into a single TEM(00) beam. This method successfully combined two diode-pumped Nd:YAG lasers with high efficiency and demonstrated coherence.
Area of Science:
- Laser physics
- Quantum optics
- Photonics
Background:
- Phase locking spatially separated laser oscillators is crucial for coherent power addition.
- Achieving a high-quality TEM(00) output beam from combined laser sources presents significant challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate the efficacy of forked laser eigenstates for phase locking and coherent power addition.
- To experimentally validate the coherent combination of two fiber-coupled diode-pumped Neodymium-doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd:YAG) laser channels.
- To achieve pure TEM(00) oscillation with high optical-to-optical conversion efficiency.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing forked laser eigenstates as a theoretical and experimental framework.
- Employing two fiber-coupled diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser channels.
- Characterizing the output beam for TEM(00) purity, coherence, and single-frequency operation.
Main Results:
- Coherent addition of powers from two Nd:YAG channels was theoretically and experimentally demonstrated.
- Pure TEM(00) oscillation was achieved.
- A 20% optical-to-optical conversion efficiency was obtained.
- The coherence of the two-propagation-axis laser was proven, and single-frequency operation was confirmed.
Conclusions:
- Forked laser eigenstates offer a powerful method for phase locking and coherent power addition of laser oscillators.
- The demonstrated technique is scalable for combining multiple laser channels.
- This approach enables efficient generation of high-quality TEM(00) output beams.
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