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Re: combining laser beams



It seems as if you still have not addressed the problem
of combining the outputs of two laser beams so that
the two beams are always in phase with each other
over a comparitively long distance.

Now that's a problem for someone on this list-serv to solve.

Herb Gottlieb from New York City
(Where it is difficult to combine two waves in space,
from different sources, so the two beams are always
in phase with each other over a significantly long distance.
Perhaps a California physicist can do better???)



On Wed, 11 Dec 2002 17:37:59 -0500 "Carl E. Mungan" <mungan@USNA.EDU>
writes:
Thanks for the replies so far. I can see I need to say more. A
half-silvered mirror won't do because I want to combine the power
of
the beams, not throw half of it away.

One reason to try to do this coherently is that you end up with 4
times the power of the original beams (say both have the same power
for simplicity) rather than just 2 times. Also, you would probably
have better beam quality.

Specifically, I was thinking of combining the outputs of the laser
stripes off a semiconductor bar. This would then be used as an
optical pump source for stimulated emission experiments, hence
another need for high beam quality not just raw power.
--
Carl E. Mungan, Asst. Prof. of Physics 410-293-6680 (O) -3729 (F)
U.S. Naval Academy, Stop 9C, Annapolis, MD 21402-5026
mungan@usna.edu http://physics.usna.edu/physics/faculty/mungan/