Patent ID: 6972887

Claim:
A high-energy optical source capable of producing any desired waveform, comprising: a source of input laser pulses; a first dispersive element, for decomposing the input laser pulses into multiple frequency components directed along multiple optical paths; multiple phase and amplitude modulators connected in the respective optical paths; multiple power amplifiers connected in the respective optical paths; a second dispersive element coupled to receive amplified optical signals from multiple power amplifiers and arranged to disperse light from the multiple optical paths along a single output optical axis, as a single amplified composite output beam; and means for controlling the multiple phase and amplitude modulators to produce desired properties in the amplified composite output beam; wherein the means for controlling the multiple phase and amplitude modulators comprises: a first beam sampler, for obtaining a first sample from the input laser pulses; a second beam sampler, for obtaining a second sample from the amplified composite output beam; means for frequency shifting one of the first and second samples; a third dispersal element, for decomposing the first and second samples into multiple frequency components; a sensor array coupled to receive both of the frequency-decomposed sample beams and to generate as a result electrical output signals indicative of relative phases of the frequency-decomposed sample beams; and control electronics for processing the output signals from the sensor array and generating a set of control signals coupled to the phase and amplitude modulators.