Monte Carlo analysis on parametric influence of beam quality degradation in spectral beam combining

The beam quality of the combined beam in the SBC laser system is critical to its effectiveness. In particular, for military applications, minimizing the degradation of the combined beam quality is essential to counter drones that operate at high speeds and over long distances. The beam quality of incoherently combined beams is highly sensitive to parameter deviations between multiple beams. In this work, using the Monte Carlo method, the degradation of combined beam quality is analyzed based on parametric influences, such as deviations in individual beam quality, beam power, beam size, decentering, and pointing angle. Decentering and beam tilt, primarily caused by free-space optics components like fiber combiner, lens, and grating, significantly contribute to degradation and uncertainty. With various measures of optical properties, this study can provide a solution to estimate parametric influences affecting the beam quality degradation in practical systems.