Fundamentals of Coherent and Incoherent Beam Combining

摘要

This tutorial reviews several aspects of laser beam combining using both coherent and incoherent techniques. Coherent techniques include laser superposition, spatial filtering, Talbot cavities, and self-Fourier methods. Spectral beam combining is described as a method of increasing the radiance of incoherent sources. The fundamental limitations of these systems are reviewed.