Coherent beam combining of fiber amplifiers based on stimulated annealing algorithm

This paper proposes the novel concept of coherent beam combining using stimulated annealing algorithm. Numerical simulation on coherent beam combining of multiple fiber amplifiers is carried out; the dependence of convergence rate on laser numbers is analyzed. Coherent beam combining of two watt-level fiber amplifiers is experimentally achieved. Experimental result shows that the whole system in close-loop performs well for long-time observation. The average energy encircled in the target pinhole is 1.8 times higher than that in the case of open-loop. The probability of energy encircled in the main-lobe to be more than 80% of its ideal value is increased from 19.4% to 51.3% when the system evolves from open-loop to close-loop.