Dynamic focus shaping with mixed-aperture coherent beam combining

Opt Lett. 2021 Apr 1;46(7):1660-1663. doi: 10.1364/OL.422135.

Abstract

A novel concept for dynamic focus shaping based on highly efficient coherent beam combining with micro-lens arrays (MLAs) as the combining element is presented. This concept allows us to control the power weights of diffraction orders by varying the absolute phases of an array of input beams. A proof-of-principle experiment is supported by simulations. For this, an input beam matrix of 5×5 beams is combined proving both the ability for further power scaling and dynamic focus shaping.