

The Digital Laser - ChuckMcM
http://arxiv.org/abs/1301.4760

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ChuckMcM
This was submitted to arxiv.org for a laser using a hologram as its reflective
mirror such that different beam properties can be dialed in on the fly without
changing optics.

Back when I was trying to get optical 10Gbit links going this was a huge issue
in terms of getting the beam adapted the actual fiber/install. I could imagine
that if you built a communication laser with this capability you could have it
tune itself to the fiber for maximum gain much less expensively than the
current high tolerance fittings and connectors.

I was always fascinated with the work the Dr. Tim Strand was doing in the
Optics lab (which was the lab next to the Image Processing Lab at USC) with
holographic lenses as a way of minimizing optical setup costs. Fun times.

