The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 01, 2013
Filed:
Aug. 30, 2011
James P. O'loughlin, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Jeffry P. Heggemeier, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Roy A. Hamil, Albuquerque, NM (US);
James P. O'Loughlin, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Jeffry P. Heggemeier, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Roy A. Hamil, Albuquerque, NM (US);
The United States of America as Represented by the Secretary of the Air Force, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
A method for implementing a coherent laser beam combining system in which a master laser oscillator output is split into N signals, fed through N phase adjusters and N amplifiers and combined in a coherent power combiner. The output of the combiner is sampled and sent to a processor. The processor selects one of the N phase adjusters, sweeps the phase in small steps over a 2π range, and locks the phase of that adjuster to the phase that corresponds to the maximum value of the combiner sample for that sweep cycle. The process is repeated for all the remaining phase adjusters resulting in maximizing the combiner output. The sweep cycles are repeated continuously to correct any phase errors that may occur over time. A similar method can be used in which both the polarizations and the phases of the N signals are maximized to thereby maximize the output of the coherent power combiner.