title: Efficient power scaling of laser radiation by spectral beam combining.
abstract: The possibility of achieving multikilowatt laser radiation by spectrally combining beams using volume Bragg gratings (VBGs) is shown. The VBGs recorded in a photothermorefractive glass exhibit long-term stability of all its parameters in high-power laser beams with power density >1 MW/cm2 in the cw beam of total power on a kilowatt level. We consider an architecture-specific beam-combining scheme and address the cross-talk minimization problem based on optimal channel positioning. Five-channel high efficiency spectral beam combining resulted in a >750 W near-diffraction-limited cw beam has been demonstrated experimentally.
authors.affiliation: CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA. asevian@creol.ucf.edu
authors.forename: Armen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sevian
authors.forename: Oleksiy
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Andrusyak
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ciapurin
authors.forename: Vadim
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Smirnov
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Venus
authors.forename: Leonid
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Glebov