M. Mueller,
C. Aleshire,
J. Buldt,
H. Stark,
C. Grebing,
A. Klenke,
and J. Limpert
Scaling potential of beam-splitter-based coherent beam combination
Opt. Express, 29 :27900 (August 2021)
Scaling potential of beam-splitter-based coherent beam combination
Opt. Express, 29 :27900 (August 2021)
Abstract:
The impact of nonlinear refraction and residual absorption on the achievable peakand average power in beam-splitter-based coherent beam combination is analyzed theoretically. While the peak power remains limited only by the aperture size, a fundamental average power limit is given by the thermo-optical and thermo-mechanical properties of the beam splitter material and its coatings. Based on our analysis, 100 kW average power can be obtained with state-of-the-art optics at maintained high beam quality (M-2 <= 1.1) and at only 2% loss of combining efficiency. This result indicates that the power-scaling potential of today\textquotesingle s beam-splitter-based coherent beam combination is far from being depleted. A potential scaling route to megawatt-level average power is discussed for optimized beam splitter geometry.