Uniform testing of beams in laser coherent beam combination

The coherent-beam-combining device and the requirements for optical-path adjustment were analyzed. Detecting the coherence of combined beams using the shearing interferometer was proposed. According to the principle of shearing interferometer, the physical model was constructed. Taking two coherent rectangular beams rectangling as an example, numerical simulation was studied on the relationship between the errors and the fringes. This method was visual, simple and precise. The results show that the existence of phase piston can be tested by shearing interferometer. So shearing interferometer could be a new method of detecting phase errors for coherent beam combination.