Scalable coherent beam combining via analytical orthogonal phase-polarization decoupling

Scalable coherent beam combining via analytical orthogonal phase-polarization decoupling | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Scalable coherent beam combining via analytical orthogonal phase-polarization decoupling Lilin Yi, Yong Wu, Guoqing Pu, Chenxu Liu, Jiajin Wang, Hongbing Zhou, and 10 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9409994/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 6 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Coherent beam combining (CBC) is the only viable route to overcome the fundamental power limits of single-fibre lasers while preserving near-diffraction-limited beam quality, underpinning transformative advances in inertial confinement fusion, high-energy particle physics, and deep-space optical communications. Non-polarization-maintaining (non-PM) amplification offers far higher power thresholds than polarization-maintaining architectures, yet its potential for large-scale CBC has remained untapped due to two long-standing, fundamental bottlenecks: the tight intrinsic coupling between phase and polarization, and the severe degradation of control bandwidth and fidelity in conventional iterative feedback schemes as channel count increases. Here we introduce a fully analytical orthogonal methodology (FAOM) that achieves complete orthogonal decoupling of phase and polarization for arbitrarily large CBC systems. This paradigm shift replaces stochastic iterative searches with deterministic analytical retrieval, enabling one-step iteration-free phase locking and fixed 11-step polarization recovery with performance entirely independent of channel count. Simulations up to 200 channels validate robust scaling with no performance degradation, while experiments on 7-channel and 15-channel CBC platforms demonstrate an order-of-magnitude improvement in phase-locking speed, ~ 50-fold enhancement in perturbation resilience and locking bandwidth, phase residuals down to \(\:\:\sim\varvec{\lambda\:}/51\) , and long-term polarization extinction ratios exceeding 21 dB. FAOM establishes a fast, deterministic, fully scalable control paradigm for CBC, unlocking a realistic path to ultra-high-brightness laser systems, while providing a generalizable analytical framework for controlling complex, strongly coupled multi-degree-of-freedom physical systems. Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Lasers, LEDs and light sources/Fibre lasers Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Applied optics/Adaptive optics Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Applied optics/Fibre optics and optical communications Full Text Additional Declarations There is no conflict of interest Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewer # 1 agreed at journal 21 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 21 Apr, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 21 Apr, 2026 First submitted to journal 15 Apr, 2026 Unknown event 14 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 13 Apr, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9409994","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":627293929,"identity":"b8d668b0-057c-4dba-81ad-3dc6bcfc4326","order_by":0,"name":"Lilin 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