倾斜相差对光纤激光相干合成的影响与模拟校正

选取不同路数和不同填充因子的合成光束模型,模拟并分析了倾斜相差对相干合成的影响.介绍了倾斜校正的关键器件--自适应光纤光源准直器.在主振荡功率放大器结构的光纤激光相干合成系统中,模拟了随机并行梯度下降(SPGD)算法校正七路激光阵列间时变倾斜相差的动态过程,分析了不同倾斜相差幅值和频率对校正能力的影响.实验表明,要提高相干合成的效果,必须校正倾斜相差;而SPGD算法校正倾斜相差的能力随着倾斜相差幅值和频率的增加而降低.文章为在实际大气环境中实现多路高功率光纤激光的相干合成提供了参考. 关键词： 光纤激光 相干合成 倾斜相位差 动态分析     

随机并行梯度下降算法用于光纤激光相干合成的理论与实验研究

介绍了随机并行梯度下降(SPGD)算法用于相干合成的基本理论,利用数值模拟的方法对实际相干合成实验中涉及到的算法评价函数、扰动电压分布等参数进行优化选取,确定了实验中应选择的最佳评价函数、扰动电压分布和扰动方式.利用数字信号处理器(DSP)执行SPGD算法,实时控制各路光束的相位,实现了三路瓦量级保偏光纤放大器输出光束的相干合成.实验结果表明,SPGD算法能够有效控制各路光纤激光的相位,系统闭环将合成光束目标圆孔内的能量提高了2.62倍,合成效率达到了理想情形的87%,远场光斑对比度为85%.     

基于目标在回路的三路光纤传输激光相干合成实验

实验验证了一种利用目标回光在远场实现相干合成的技术——目标在回路技术.建立了目标在回路相干合成的物理模型,利用可同时调整光程和光束倾斜的自适应光纤光源准直器,同时补偿合成光束间的平移和倾斜相差,实现了基于目标在回路的三路光纤传输激光间相干合成,获得了接近理想情况的合成效果.文章为在实际大气环境中实现多路相干组束的长距离传输提供了参考.     

基于自适应桶中功率评价函数的光纤放大器相干合成实验研究

光纤激光光束合成技术被公认为是实现高亮度、高光束质量激光束的优秀方法, 而激光阵列间的倾斜像差是影响合成效果的重要因素. 针对当前光束合成中存在的倾斜校正量受限问题, 提出了基于自适应桶中功率(PIB)评价函数的倾斜控制策略. 搭建了两路2 W光纤放大器的相干合成实验平台, 利用自制的压电环光纤相位调制器和自适应光纤准直器分别实现锁相和倾斜像差校正, 验证了基于自适应PIB的倾斜控制策略的可行性, 并实现了相干合成. 关键词： 光纤激光阵列 倾斜控制 自适应桶中功率 相干合成     

基于随机并行梯度下降算法的相干合成动态相差控制与带宽分析

分析随机并行梯度下降(SPGD)算法用于多路大型固体激光装置相干合成中校正动态相差的能力。首先介绍了SPGD算法实现相干合成的基本理论,利用数值模拟方法对算法进行了优化,实现了两路基于SPGD算法的波长为800nm、带宽为30fs光束的相干合成实验,验证了在外加10,15,20,25Hz动态相差条件下算法的特性,并进一步模拟了动态活塞相差和指向性相差的校正过程,分析了不同相位噪声强度和频率对校正能力的影响,计算了控制带宽与光束路数、算法执行速度之间的关系。结果表明:远场强度分布的平方和是高能短脉冲激光相干合成的最佳性能评价函数;采用自适应增益的方式时,在保证算法稳定性的前提下,提高了算法的收敛速度;随着相位噪声强度和频率的提高,算法的有效控制带宽减小;算法执行速度越快,光束路数越少,则算法控制带宽越大;受限于器件性能,SPGD算法不适用于4路以上带宽为30fs激光阵列的相干合成。     

SPGD算法在光纤激光相干阵列光束控制中的应用

主动相位控制的光纤激光阵列相干合成在提高输出功率的同时能够保证良好的光束质量,其关键技术在于光纤激光相干阵列的锁相控制。基于随机并行梯度下降(SPGD)算法的锁相控制方案不仅具有控制策略简单、系统结构紧凑的优点,而且通过算法性能评价函数和迭代参数的选取,能够对光纤激光相干阵列进行多种锁相控制,从而得到各种形式的阵列合成光束输出,实现与自适应光子锁相元件整列(APPLE)系统阵列的有效契合。理论研究并实验实现了基于SPGD算法的相位控制方案的同相相干合成锁相控制、合成光束主极大偏转控制和空心光束产生等功能,验证了基于SPGD算法的全电光束控制在各种形态光束控制中的可行性。     

高功率光纤激光的时间部分相干性对相干合成的影响

 将多个光纤激光器的输出光束进行相干合成是获得高功率、高光束质量激光的有效途径。利用准部分相干光(PPCB)模型，计算了高功率光纤激光器阵列发出的部分相干光在远场的能量分布，分析了激光的时间部分相干性对相干合成的影响。计算结果表明，随着单根激光器输出光束线宽的增大，远场光斑的图样基本保持不变，但峰值功率和Strehl比随之减小。对于采用的算例，要保证远场光斑的Strehl比大于0.8，单根光纤激光器的线宽不能超过5 nm。     

基于空间滤波的光纤激光被动相位锁定技术研究

基于空间滤波的被动相位锁定,对掺Yb光纤激光阵列的相干组束进行了理论和实验研究.分析了基于空间滤波光反馈相位锁定的原理,研究了远场相干光斑Strehl比与激光波长及光谱带宽的关系.建立了二维四路掺Yb光纤放大器阵列的被动相位锁定实验系统,实现了稳定的相干耦合激光输出,远场光斑Strehl比为0.77.测得输出激光光谱中单个纵模的带宽约为9.1 GHz,与理论计算符合较好. 关键词： 光纤激光 相干合成 环形腔     

基于空间结构内部锁相的光纤激光相干合成技术

介绍了本课题组近年来在基于空间结构内部锁相的光纤激光相干合成方面的研究工作,给出了空间结构内部锁相相干合成的基本原理,搭建了七路低功率光纤激光阵列实验系统,结果表明在内部相位噪声校正基础之上,可以稳定补偿外部相位差进而实现激光阵列同相位输出,验证了内部锁相方法的可行性。进一步介绍了空间结构内部锁相技术在目标在回路相干合成、阵列光束光场调控等方面的拓展应用,通过实验论证了空间结构内部锁相技术能够有效提升目标在回路相干合成系统的相位控制带宽,并在远场有效生成轨道角动量光束阵列,其拓扑荷数可从-1到+1切换。     

激光器阵列的部分相干性对相干合成远场输出特性的影响

对于相干合成的光纤激光器阵列来说,如何定量的分析阵列的相干性对于评价阵列的性能具有极其重要的意义.文章推导了光纤激光器阵列部分相干合成远场强度分布的解析表达式,详细探讨了激光器阵列的部分相干性对相干合成远场图样分布、中心主瓣宽度、斯特列尔比、桶中功率的影响.最后采用主振荡并联放大器方案对三路掺镱光纤放大器进行实时相位探测与校正,实验给出了三路光纤放大器相干合成的结果. 关键词： 光纤激光器阵列 相干合成 相干度     

Coherent beam combining of 137 W 2 × 2 fiber amplifier array

We demonstrate coherent beam combining of two-dimensional fiber amplifier arrays with a total of 137 W output power using stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm. Compact all-fiber polarization-maintained single frequency fiber amplifier chains are developed and four fiber amplifiers are arranged to 2 × 2 laser array with a fill factor of 70% in the near-field. Active phase control is implemented by a digital signal processor (DSP) based SPGD controller. The fringe visibility of the coherent combined beam profile is as high as 81% when the system is closed-loop controlled despite perturbations of the environment.     

Experimental demonstration of coherent beam combining over a 7 km propagation path

We demonstrate coherent combining (phase locking) of seven laser beams emerging from an adaptive fiber-collimator array over a 7 km atmospheric propagation path using a target-in-the-loop (TIL) setting. Adaptive control of the piston and the tip and tilt wavefront phase at each fiber-collimator subaperture resulted in automatic focusing of the combined beam onto an unresolved retroreflector target (corner cube) with precompensation of quasi-static and atmospheric turbulence-induced phase aberrations. Both phase locking (piston) and tip-tilt control were performed by maximizing the target-return optical power using iterative stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) techniques. The performance of TIL coherent beam combining and atmospheric mitigation was significantly increased by using an SPGD control variation that accounts for the round-trip propagation delay (delayed SPGD).     

Coherent beam combination of an optical array using adaptive fiber optics collimators

A novel adaptive-fiber-optics-collimator (AFOC) compensating both piston-type and tip/tilt-type phase errors of output beam is introduced, and has been employed in experiments of coherent beam combination (CBC) of a delta distributed fiber array. Feedback control is realized using stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm. Excellent CBC effect has been achieved when piston and tip/tilt errors among beamlets corrected. The necessity of wavefront tip/tilt control in CBC is verified. Experimental results exhibit great potential applications of this kind of AFOC in fiber amplifier arrays.     

Speckle-metric-optimization-based adaptive optics for laser beam projection and coherent beam combining

Maximization of a projected laser beam's power density at a remotely located extended object (speckle target) can be achieved by using an adaptive optics (AO) technique based on sensing and optimization of the target-return speckle field's statistical characteristics, referred to here as speckle metrics (SM). SM AO was demonstrated in a target-in-the-loop coherent beam combining experiment using a bistatic laser beam projection system composed of a coherent fiber-array transmitter and a power-in-the-bucket receiver. SM sensing utilized a 50 MHz rate dithering of the projected beam that provided a stair-mode approximation of the outgoing combined beam's wavefront tip and tilt with subaperture piston phases. Fiber-integrated phase shifters were used for both the dithering and SM optimization with stochastic parallel gradient descent control.     

Coherent beam combining master oscillator-power of hybrid phase control in amplifier configuration

A novel scalable architecture for coherent beam combining with hybrid phase control involving passive phasing and active phasing in master oscillator-power amplifier configuration is presented. Wide-linewidth mutually injected passive phasing fibre laser arrays serve as master oscillators for the power amplifiers, and the active phasing using stochastic parallel gradient descent algorithm is induced. Wide-linewidth seed laser can suppress the stimulated Brillouin scattering effectively and improve the output power of the fibre laser amplifier, while hybrid phase control provides a robust way for in-phase mode coherent beam combining simultaneously. Experiment is performed by active phasing fibre laser amplifiers with passive phasing fibre ring laser array seed lasers. Power encircled in the main-lobe increases1.57 times and long-exposure fringe contrast is obtained to be 78% when the system evolves from passive phasing to hybrid phasing.     

Tolerance on tilt error for coherent combining of fiber lasers

Limited by the precision of optical machining and assembling, the optical axes of lasers in an array cannot be strictly parallel to each other, which will result in the beam quality degradation of the combined beam. The tolerance on tilt error for coherent combining of fiber lasers is studied in detail. The complex amplitude distribution in the far field for the Gaussian beam with tilt angle is obtained by a novel coordinate transform method. Effect of tilt error on coherent combining is modelled analytically. Beam propagation factor is used to evaluate the effect of coherent combining. Numerical results show that for ring-distributed fiber laser array with central wavelength A and geometry size D, if the root-mean-square （RMS） value of the tilt error is smaller than 0.72A/D, the energy encircled in the diffraction-limited bucket can be ensured to be more than 50% of the value when there is no tilt error. The results are helpful to the designing and manufacturing of fiber array for coherent combining.     

Coherent beam combining of pulsed fiber lasers with hybrid phase control

We demonstrate a scalable architecture for coherent combining of all-fiber pulsed lasers with hybrid phase control involving passive phasing and active phasing for the first time. Synchronized and passive phased pulsed laser array is built by intra-activity phase modulation. Active phase control on the passive phased pulsed laser array using stochastic parallel gradient descent algorithm provides stable in-phase coherent beam combining pattern in a turbulent atmosphere. The fringe visibility is increased from 0 two 0.43 and the power encircled in the main-lobe is 1.616 times increased when the system evolves from passive phasing to hybrid phasing. The architecture can be easily scaled up to high power by increasing power of each individual laser, number of laser elements and introduction of power amplifiers, which will lead a promising way for scaleable high power coherent beam combining of pulsed lasers.     

Active coherent beam combination of two high-power single-frequency nanosecond fiber amplifiers

We report on active coherent beam combining of two single-frequency nanosecond fiber amplifiers by using stochastic parallel gradient descent algorithm. Each fiber amplifier produces an average power of more than 100 W by using three-stage cascaded amplification. The two laser beams are actively phase-locked with a total average power of 215.8 W, producing ~8 ns pulses at 10 MHz repetition rate. The contrast of the far-field intensity pattern of the coherently combined beam is more than 83%.     

32路光纤激光相干阵列的相位锁定

报道了32路光纤激光相干阵列的相位锁定实验研究。搭建了32路光纤激光相干阵列实验系统,基于现场可编程逻辑阵列(FPGA)设计制作了高速高精度相位控制器。当相位控制器执行随机并行梯度下降(SPGD)算法对各路激光的相位进行锁定时,相干阵列输出的激光功率与不进行相位锁定时相比提高了约26倍。