title: Passive combination of multiple beams in an optical fiber via stimulated Brillouin scattering.
abstract: We demonstrate passive combination of multiple beams in an optical fiber via stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). Four off-axis beams are combined in a long multimode optical fiber using a novel all-optical mount. The combined beam has the high spatial coherence properties of the LP(01) mode owing to the beam cleanup properties of SBS. The threshold for SBS when off-axis pumps are used is shown to be a factor of 13 times higher than for on-axis pump beams. We propose this method would improve the brightness of an array of fiber amplifiers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering Physics, Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT/ENP), Ohio 45433, USA. kirk.brown@rl.af.mil
authors.forename: Kirk C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Timothy H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.forename: Thomas G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Alley
authors.forename: Won B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Roh