Improving the power coupling efficiency in a relay mirror system using a multiple laser array

We propose a new relay mirror system configuration in which the transmitting telescope is composed of an array of tightly tiled sub-apertures. By controlling the piston-type optical phase in each aperture using the stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm, it is shown that the intensity distribution can be shaped at the receiving plane and that the power coupling efficiency can be improved. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.