Patent ID: 7949030
Filing Date: 2011-05-24
Classification: H01S

Abstract:
1. A system for producing mutually-coherent operation of a plurality of light emitters, each of the emitters outputting a respective power and brightness, the system comprising: an optical system that mixes respective beams received from each of the plurality of emitters; a beam-combining element that receives the mixed beams and forms at least one composite beam containing a respective contribution from each of the emitters; and a wavelength-selective output coupler that receives the at least one composite beam from the beam-combining element, and feeds back through the beam-combining element to each of the emitters at least a portion of the light, the portion having a selected wavelength and containing a respective contribution from each of the emitters, wherein mutually coherent operation of all the emitters is achieved such that each of the emitters lases at the selected wavelength with a phase difference that results in a coherent output beam from the system that effectively combines the powers from each of the emitters such that the output beam has a brightness that is greater than the brightnesses of the individual emitters.