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A system and method for combining plural low power light beams into a coherent high power light beam. Optical amplifiers transmit a plurality of light beams propagating at a common wavelength through an array of optical fiber emitters. Each constituent beam is emitted from the array at a different p

A system and method for combining plural low power light beams into a coherent high power light beam. Optical amplifiers transmit a plurality of light beams propagating at a common wavelength through an array of optical fiber emitters. Each constituent beam is emitted from the array at a different propagation angle, collimated, and incident on a diffractive optical element operating as a beam combiner such that incident beams when properly phased and located are combined into a coherent beam at a desired diffraction order. A beam splitter or a periodic sampling grating on the diffractive optical element directs a low power sample beam to a spatial filter passing resonant mode output back to the optical amplifiers in a ring laser configuration thereby passively synchronizing phases of the constituent beams to maximize combination efficiency of the coherent beam.

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What is claimed is: 1. A system for combining a plurality of light beams into a single coherent beam, comprising: a plurality of optical amplifiers, each transmitting a light beam at a common wavelength; an array of optical emitters, each emitter in the array coupled to one of the optical amplifier

What is claimed is: 1. A system for combining a plurality of light beams into a single coherent beam, comprising: a plurality of optical amplifiers, each transmitting a light beam at a common wavelength; an array of optical emitters, each emitter in the array coupled to one of the optical amplifiers; a diffractive optical element combining light beams emitted from the optical emitters into a coherent output beam; a means for generating a sample beam from the coherent output beam; a spatial filter passing an optimal mode of the sample beam; and feedback fiber coupling output of the spatial filter to the optical amplifiers in a ring laser configuration. 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the fiber coupling output of the spatial filter to the optical amplifiers is polarization maintaining. 3. The system of claim 1 wherein the fiber coupling output of the spatial filter to the optical amplifiers further comprises polarization rotation optics. 4. The system of claim 1 wherein the coherent output beam has a maximum intensity at the optimal mode. 5. The system of claim 1 wherein the coherent output beam has a maximum intensity along the 0th diffraction order of the diffractive optical element. 6. The system of claim 1 wherein the diffractive optical element collimates light beams emerging from the array. 7. The system of claim 1 wherein the means for generating the sample beam comprises a beam splitter. 8. The system of claim 1 wherein the diffractive optical element further comprises the means for generating the sample beam. 9. The system of claim 8 wherein the diffractive optical element focuses the sample beam onto the spatial filter. 10. The system of claim 1 wherein the spatial filter comprises a single mode fiber. 11. The system of claim 1 wherein the spatial filter comprises a pinhole filter. 12. A system for combining a plurality of laser beams into a coherent laser beam, comprising: a plurality of optical amplifiers; an array of optical emitters, each emitter in the array coupled to one of the optical amplifiers, each emitter transmitting a constituent laser beam at a common wavelength, each constituent laser beam having a different propagation angle with respect to the array; a diffractive optical element combining the constituent laser beams emitted from the array into a coherent laser beam at an optimal phase for maximum combination efficiency, the diffractive optical element having a short periodic sampling grating for diffracting a coherent sample beam representing relative intensities of all diffracted orders of the coherent laser beam; a single mode fiber passing an optimal spatial mode of the coherent sample beam; and feedback fiber coupling output of the single mode fiber to the optical amplifiers in a ring laser configuration. 13. A method for combining a plurality of light beams into a single coherent beam, comprising: transmitting an array of light beams at a common wavelength from a plurality of optical amplifiers; combining the light beams by means of a diffractive optical element into a coherent output beam; sampling the coherent output beam to obtain a coherent sample beam; directing the coherent sample beam to a spatial filter; passing an optimal spatial mode of the coherent sample beam through the spatial filter; and feeding back the optimal spatial mode in a ring laser configuration to the optical amplifiers to maximize combination efficiency in the coherent output beam. 14. The method of claim 13 further comprising, prior to the combining step, directing the light beams through a fiber array to the diffractive optical element. 15. The method of claim 13 further comprising collimating the light beams transmitted from the optical amplifiers by means of the diffractive optical element. 16. The method of claim 13 wherein the coherent output beam has a maximum intensity along the 0th diffraction order of the diffractive optical element. 17. The method of claim 13 further comprising sampling the coherent output beam by means of the diffractive optical element. 18. The method of claim 17 further comprising focusing the coherent sample beam by means of the diffractive optical element. 19. The method of claim 13 further comprising combining the light beams into a coherent output beam and a coherent sample beam by means of a primarily reflective diffractive optical element. 20. The method of claim 13 wherein the spatial filter comprises a single mode fiber.