Coherent combination of slab-coupled optical waveguide lasers

Abstract

A long-standing challenge for semiconductor lasers is scaling the optical power and brightness of many diode lasers by coherent beam combination. Because single-mode semiconductor lasers have limited power available from a single element, there is a strong motivation to coherently combine the outputs of many elements for applications including industrial lasers for materials processing, free space optical communications, and defense. Despite the fact that such a coherently-combined source is potentially the most efficient laser, coherent combination of semiconductor lasers is generally considered to be difficult, since precise phase control is required between elements. We describe our approach to coherent combination of semiconductor lasers. The Slab-Coupled Optical Waveguide Laser (SCOWL), invented at Lincoln Laboratory, is used as the single-mode diode laser element for coherent combination. With a 10-element SCOWL array, coherently combined output power as high as 7 W in continuous wave using an external cavity has been demonstrated, which is the highest output level achieved using a coherent array of semiconductor lasers. We are currently working on a related approach to scale the coherent power up to 100 W.