Patent ID: 7406220

Claim:
A system for steering at least one of two or more optical input beams from one or more sources and combining the two or more optical input beams into an optical output beam, the system comprising: a waveguide comprising an inlet and an outlet at opposite ends of the waveguide, the waveguide configured to combine the two or more optical input beams from the one or more sources and to form a combined optical output beam at the outlet of the waveguide; one or more phase controlling devices, at least one of the one or more phase controlling devices configured to control a phase of at least one of the two or more optical input beams, the waveguide in conjunction with the one or more phase controlling devices configured to form the combined optical output beam that is coherent; and one or more beam steering devices, at least one of the one or more beam steering devices configured to laterally steer, angularly steer, or laterally and angularly steer at least one of the two or more optical input beams, the waveguide in conjunction with the one or more beam steering devices configured to form the combined optical output beam that is angularly steered, laterally steered, or angularly and laterally steered.