PROCEEDINGS ARTICLE | February 22, 2017
Proc. SPIE. 10083, Fiber Lasers XIV: Technology and Systems
KEYWORDS: Fiber amplifiers, Beam splitters, Optical amplifiers, Oscillators, Polarization, High power lasers, Estimation theory, Fiber lasers, Ultrafast lasers, Diodes, Free space optics, Bragg cells, Pulsed laser operation, Electrooptic modulators
In this contribution, we present a spatio-temporal coherent beam combining setup in a proof-of-principle experiment with an entirely fiber-coupled front-end. Unlike in previous experiments, where the temporal pulse division was achieved using free-space optical delay lines, the pulses are taken directly from the pulse train of the oscillator. Thereby, the free-space paths and the alignment requirement are cut in half. The combination inevitably remains in free-space considering application in high-power lasers. For the combination of 4 temporally separated pulses, a combining efficiency larger than 95% is demonstrated. The efficiency is largely independent of the combined pulse energy and temporal contrasts close to the theoretically estimated maximum are reached. Potentially, this approach allows for self-optimization of the combination due to the many degrees of freedom accessible with the electro-optic modulators.
