抄録
Laser beam combining is a promising approach to increase the output power and energy of a laser
system. In this article, we review several techniques of laser beam combining. Among them, we
experimentally demonstrated coherent beam combining with optical parametric amplification. In a
proof-of-principle experiment, the phases of two beams, which were generated from the second
harmonic of a Nd: YAG laser, were precisely controlled by a motorized actuator. To demonstrate
multiple-beam combining, a random phase plate was used to create random-phased beam arrays as a
pump pulse. The evaluation of the far-field patterns of the pump beams, an amplified signal beam, and
an idler beam demonstrated that the spatial phase uniformity of the amplified signal was maintained
regardless of that of the pump beams. This feature offers a potential to produce a single beam with good
beam quality from multiple beams.
