Open AccessDynamical, bidirectional model for coherent beam combining in passive fiber laser arrays
Author(s) -
Tsai Wei Wu,
Wei Zung Chang,
Almantas Galvanauskas,
Herbert G. Winful
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.18.025873
Subject(s) - optics , physics , beam (structure) , fiber laser , power (physics) , laser , transient (computer programming) , laser beams , optical fiber , nonlinear optics , computer science , quantum mechanics , operating system
We generalize the recently proposed model for coherent beam combining in passive fiber laser arrays [Opt. Express 17, 19509 (2009)] to include the transient gain dynamics and the complication of counterpropagating waves, two important features characterizing actual experimental conditions. The extended model reveals that beam combining is not affected by the population relaxation process or the presence of backward propagating waves, which only serve to co-saturate the gain. The presence of nonresonant nonlinearity is found to reduce the coherent combining efficiency at high power levels. We show that the array lases at the frequencies with minimum overall losses when multiple loss mechanisms are present.