Abstract
Sprangle et al. [Appl. Opt. 54, F201 (2015) [CrossRef] ] recently concluded that our experiments on coherent combining of laser beams over an atmospheric path [Opt. Lett. 36, 4455 (2011) [CrossRef] ] were “effective only because at these low-power levels the linewidth of the lasers was very narrow… and the level of atmospheric turbulence was low….” These conclusions are inaccurate, not relevant to practical high-power coherently combined laser systems, and contradict our most recent experiments with coherent combining of 21 laser beams with a linewidth of about 1 GHz over 7 km distance. In this comment we also challenge the major conclusion of Sprangle et al. [Appl. Opt. 54, F201 (2015) [CrossRef] ] and the more recently published paper by Nelson et al. [Appl. Opt. 55, 1757 (2016) [CrossRef] ] regarding inefficiency of coherent beam combining under typical atmospheric conditions.
© 2016 Optical Society of America
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