Unlike coherent combining, incoherent beam combining increases laser power by merging multiple beams without requiring phase synchronization. This simplifies the process, making it compatible with a broader range of lasers. The technique overlaps beams from several lasers onto a single target, resulting in a combined-power, high-power beam.

There are two primary methods for this: spatial and spectral beam combining. Spatial combining merges beams in space, while spectral combining combines beams based on their frequency or wavelength. Compared to coherent combining, incoherent combining offers advantages in versatility, efficiency, and system complexity. It accommodates a wider range of laser types and is generally less complex to implement. However, in the case of spatial combining, because there is no coherence between the individual channels, overlapping the channels into a single output beam with high beam quality is non-trivial.

Beginning with an ultra-precise fiber array, diffractive optical elements can be used to achieve the incoherent additions of all channels into one directed output beam. If the application requires a good spatial overlap in only a specific focus region to provide the highest possible intensities, a tiled approach can also be used in which all the beamlets within the array are focused on one common focus position where the intensities of all the laser sources is added up incoherently.

A stable and robust fiber array is again at the heart of this combining technology, and as a world-leading expert in fiber array technology, FiberBridge Photonics would be delighted to support you in your beam combining application!