Patent ID: 11867987
Assignee: LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION
Field: Optics (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 18:
19. A method of combining phase-controlled beams, the method comprising:
splitting a light beam of a laser source into a plurality of beamlets;
tagging each beamlet of the plurality of beamlets with an arbitrary phase dither signal corresponding to an arbitrary phase setpoint or offset;
combining tagged beamlets to form combined light and directing the combined light to a second beam splitter to produce a target light directed to a target and an auxiliary light;
focusing the auxiliary light to form a far-field proxy light;
mixing the far-field proxy light with an optical local oscillator (LO) to generate a light signal including tagging information; and
generating a phase-control signal based on the light signal and using the phase-control signal to change a phase of each beamlet of the plurality of beamlets.