High-power laser diode array phase locking

The overview of the phase-locking problem for the powerful laser diode arrays is presented. Comparison of the external Talbot cavity configuration with the other ones is held. Attention is paid to both investigation and employment of the laser diode arrays consisting of wide aperture lasers. Such arrays, placed in the external cavity, allow easier solution of the scaling up problem that results in the output lobes with both significantly increased power and low divergence. Our experiments confirm feasibility of both QCW and CW phase- locking of the LDA in the external quarter-Talbot (Lc equals ZT/4) cavity at the output power of more than 10 W with the lobes divergence of (delta) (Psi) approximately equals 0.5 mrad. Employment of the efficient porous heatexchanger along with the system that cancels both induced phase distortions arising due to heat release and existing optical imperfections has allowed a breakthrough in powerful arrays phase-locking.