Patent ID: 8731010

Claim:
A fiber optic laser array, comprising: a plurality of fiber optics, wherein each fiber optic of said plurality of fiber optics comprises an active laser gain medium; and means for controlling the length of at least one said fiber optic, wherein, at an operative wavelength, optically pumping each said active laser gain medium produces a laser beam, wherein said plurality of fiber optics produces a plurality of laser beams, wherein said means for controlling comprises means for radio-frequency (RF) modulating a beam of light co-propagating with said laser beam, wherein said beam of light and said laser beam simultaneously propagate within said at least one said fiber optic, wherein said means for controlling the length comprises an RF phase detector for determining the RF phase for calculating the absolute length of said each fiber optic, wherein said means for controlling the length of said at least one said fiber optic is configured to measure the RF phase of each said beam of light transmitted through said each fiber optic to determine the length of said each fiber optic and wherein said means for controlling the length of said each fiber optic is configured to alter the length of at least one of said each fiber optic to achieve a phase matching condition between at least two laser beams of said plurality of laser beams, wherein said length is altered such that two or more said laser beams comprise a matching transit time through their respective said each fiber optic, wherein said matching transit time matches to within the reciprocal of the bandwidth of said each laser beam.