0.7 MW output power from a two-arm coherently combined Q-switched photonic crystal fiber laser

We demonstrate a high peak power, Q-switched pulsed, intracavity coherently combined fiber laser system. The system is based on two Yb-doped, rod-type, photonic crystal fibers which are passively phase-locked and combined into the single output beam in a power oscillator configuration. Experimental evidence indicate that this oscillator system provides record high peak power of ∼ 0.7 MW with pulse duration of ∼ 10 ns at 1 kHz repetition rate. The measured beam quality shows near-diffraction-limited operation of the coherently combined system.