Optimal Coherent Beam Combining Based on Multi-Plane Light Conversion for High Throughput Optical Feeder Links

To achieve Tb/s throughput in the near-infrared window that is required for FSO feeder-links, coherent beam combining appears as a promising candidate to increase output power of single-mode lasers. In this article, we demonstrate the use of an MPLC for coherent beam combining. Based on the unitary conversion we show that it is possible to perform a theoretically perfect combining. Using a supermode approach we propose several architectures to improve beam combining even when phase-locking is not perfect.