Abstract

Propagation of coherent combined laser beams in turbulent atmosphere is numerically studied based on the extended Huygens-Fresnel principle. By choosing beam propagation factor (BPF) and beam quality factor (BQ) to characterize the far-field irradiance distribution properties, the influence of turbulence on far-field coherent combined beam quality is studied in detail. The investigation reveals that with the coherence length decreasing, the irradiance distribution pattern evolves from typical non-Gaussian shape with multiple side-lobes into Gaussian shape which is seen in the incoherent combining case. In weak turbulent atmosphere, the far-field beam quality suffers less when the laser array gets more compact and operates at a longer wavelength. In strong turbulent atmosphere, the far-field beam quality degrades into the incoherent combining case without any relationship with the fill factor and laser wavelength.

© 2008 Chinese Optics Letters

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