Dmitrii KOUZNETSOV^*, Jean-Francois BISSON, Akira SHIRAKAWA and Ken-ichi UEDA

Institute for Laser Science, University of Electro Communications, 1-5-1 Chofugaoka, Chofu, Tokyo 182-8585, Japan

(Received January 14, 2005; Accepted July 7, 2005)

The coherent combining of single mode lasers using coupled cavities is considered. A simple analytical estimate of the number of lasers that can be efficiently combined in such a way is suggested. Such an estimate agrees with simulations and experiments reported recently.

Key words: coherent beam addition, laser addition, coherent beam combining, power scaling

^*E-mail address: dima@ils.uec.ac.jp