We present design, simulation and benchtop demonstration of a beam combining system for use in coherently combined fiber arrays with >1kW per channel. A beam combiner assembly using laser-smoothed, monolithic freeform beam shaping and phase correction optics is designed and manufactured to meet the low-SWaP and high efficiency targets set for deployable LDEW systems. We report on achievable power-in-the bucket in coherently combined system, perchannel power handling capability and scalability to a larger number of channels.
Laser directed energy effectors combine the beams from several singlemode optical fiber amplifiers into a single beam with near diffraction-limited divergence. Coherent beam combination achieves this by tiling an aperture with individual beams and co-phasing these beams. Deployment on mobile platforms requires a rugged effector with low size, weight and power consumption. These constraints challenge beam combiner architectures based on discrete optics as power is scaled via channel count. We describe how monolithic arrays of freeform optics solve these problems by providing collimation, beamshaping and high fill-factor aperture tiling for large numbers of fiber channels in a rugged low-SWaP configuration.
The goal of deploying a high-power laser directed energy effector on a mobile platform creates several challenges beyond the primary requirement of high laser power. The pump sources and beam conditioning optics that are used in industrial lasers do not provide the low volume and mass required for deployment on a mobile platform. Similarly, use of conventional discrete spherical and aspherical optical elements does not provide the level of beam control and efficiency required to achieve the necessary on-target power and spot size. We describe how freeform optics are used to realize pump sources and beam combining systems with the high levels of optical performance and efficiency, coupled with low mass and volume, required to meet the low-SWaP targets set for deployable LDEW systems.
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