Coherent beam combining

Coherent beam combining is a key pathway to achieving 100 kW power levels required for directed energy applications. The basic building block for such beam combined systems is a narrow linewidth, nonlinearity managed kW-class laser with excellent beam quality (M^2 < 1.2). In this project, we will develop such basic building blocks (IISc) as well as demonstrate coherent beam combining of such narrow linewidth lasers (IITM) with the target of achieving >80% beam combination efficiency and M2< 1.5. The specific objectives are:

• Develop a packaged, high power fiber laser module amenable to power combining with output power of > 500W, single polarization, linewidth< 10 GHz (< 0.04 nm) and beam quality M^2 < 1.2.
• Demonstrate coherent beam combining of above narrow linewidth laser units with 80% beam combination efficiency and M2 < 1.5.