HIBISCUS: Simulator for the development of control strategies for coherent beam combining lasers with PISTIL technique

Abstract

CBC (Coherent Beam Combining) is a key technology for the realisation of intense lasers. In this context, PISTIL (PISton and TILt interferometry), a precise metrology tool for measuring segmented wave surfaces, has been developed and used in particular to characterise and diagnose CBC ultrafast and digital laser in the framework of the XCAN (X Coherent Amplification Network) project at the École Polytechnique. We propose here to use it in a way to help the optimisation of control techniques by including PISTIL in an XCAN type CBC laser simulator. This will allow an easy tuning of the control laws, outside the clean rooms in which these large lasers are deployed and without the need to start them up.