High-power lasers for directed-energy applications: comment

Sprangle et al. [Appl. Opt.54, F201 (2015)APOPAI0003-693510.1364/AO.54.00F201] recently concluded that our experiments on coherent combining of laser beams over an atmospheric path [Opt. Lett.36, 4455 (2011)OPLEDP0146-959210.1364/OL.36.004455] were "effective only because at these low-power levels the linewidth of the lasers was very narrow… and the level of atmospheric turbulence was low…." These conclusions are inaccurate, not relevant to practical high-power coherently combined laser systems, and contradict our most recent experiments with coherent combining of 21 laser beams with a linewidth of about 1 GHz over 7 km distance. In this comment we also challenge the major conclusion of Sprangle et al. [Appl. Opt.54, F201 (2015)APOPAI0003-693510.1364/AO.54.00F201] and the more recently published paper by Nelson et al. [Appl. Opt.55, 1757 (2016)APOPAI0003-693510.1364/AO.55.001757] regarding inefficiency of coherent beam combining under typical atmospheric conditions.