Coherent Laser Beam Combining

Recently, the improvement of diode pumping in solid state lasers and the development of double clad fiber lasers have allowed to maintain excellent laser beam quality with single mode fibers. However, the fiber output power if often limited below a power damage threshold. Coherent laser beam combining (CLBC) brings a solution to these limitations by identifying the most efficient architectures and allowing for excellent spectral and spatial quality. This knowledge will become critical for the design of the next generation high-power lasers and is of major interest to many industrial, environmental, defence and scientific applications.
The purpose of this book is to present the more recent concepts of coherent beam combining by the world leaders in the field. After a general presentation of laser beam combining and associated challenges, the book will review functionalities and techniques in details with an emphasis on practical implementations. Thus both scientific and engineering aspects are addressed.
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Dr. Arnaud Brignon is Head of the Micro and Nano-Physics Laboratory in Thales Research & Technology, France. He received his Engineering Degree in 1991 from the Institut d?Optique Graduate School, and his PhD in 1996 from the Paris University, France. Arnaud Brignon has authored more than 150 papers (including some 30 invited and tutorials) on laser beam control, two books, and 30 patents. In 1996 he received the Fabry-de-Gramont prize from the French Optical Society, in 2000 the Fresnel prize from the European Physical Society, and in 2001 the Technology Review?s Award from the MIT.