  Since the advent of optical orbital angular momentum (OAM), advances in the
generation and manipulation of OAM beams have continuously impacted on
intriguing applications including optical communication, optical tweezers, and
remote sensing. To realize the generation of high-power and fast switchable OAM
beams, coherent combining of fiber lasers offers a promising way. Here in this
contribution, we comprehensively investigate the coherent fiber laser array
system for structuring OAM beams in terms of the design considerations and
performance analysis. The performance metric and evaluation method of the laser
array system are presented and introduced. Accordingly, the effect of the main
sections of the laser array system, namely the high-power laser sources,
emitting array configuration, and dynamic control system, on the performance of
the output coherently combined OAM beams is evaluated, which reveals the system
tolerance of perturbative factors and provides the guidance on system design
and optimization. This work could provide beneficial reference on the practical
implementation of spatially structuring high-power, fast switchable OAM beams
with fiber laser arrays.

Optics