On Wed, 19 Feb 2003, Pierce Nichols wrote:
> >50% DC-to-light is now COTS for 800nm infrared diode arrays. *But*, and
> >it's not a trivial but, the output of those arrays is incoherent: there's
> >currently no practical way to phase the diodes together...
>
> ISTR there has been some recent work on phase locking diode lasers
> to a reference beam. Am I completely out to lunch?
People have been *working* on such ideas for a long time, because the
potential payoff is high. As far as I know, there hasn't been any notable
progress of late, but it's not a field I follow closely.
> >Cheap big lasers are the primary bottleneck for laser launch...
>
> True enough. I don't see why you couldn't go to microwaves, tho.
> Large phased-array microwave transmitters are remarkably close to
> off-the-shelf items these days.
They can't hold the sort of beams required at the sort of distances
required, unless you use enormous antennas. A wavelength of a centimeter
instead of a micron makes a huge difference.
Henry Spencer
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