Efficient coherent combining of widely tunable fiber lasers

Abstract : We have experimentally demonstrated coherent combining of 2 and then 4 fiber lasers, with respectively 99% and 95% combining efficiency. The combining method investigated here is based on a multi-arm resonator of interferometric configuration. In spite of its interferometric nature, the multi-arm laser operates without significant power fluctuations, even in an unprotected environment. This occurs when the arm length difference is large enough to introduce spectral modulations of period smaller than the laser bandwidth. We have also experimentally shown that the combining method is compatible with wavelength tuning. A Mach-Zehnder Fiber Laser was tuned over a wide spectral range of 60nm Theoretically then, we confirm that the combining method can be scaled to a large number of lasers without decreasing the combining efficiency.