A self-adjusting interferometric outcoupler. In the most general sense, the invention
is an optical system (100) comprising a first mechanism (112) for
generating a first beam, a second mechanism (122) for receiving the first
beam and returning a second beam, and an interferometer (116) positioned
to couple the first beam to the second mechanism (122) and to receive and
output the second beam, wherein the interferometer (116) is also shared
by the first mechanism (112) and/or the second mechanism (122) to
control the frequency of the first beam and/or the second beam, respectively. In
the illustrative embodiment, the first mechanism (112) is a master oscillator,
the second mechanism (122) is a phase conjugate mirror, and the system (100)
further includes a power amplifier (118) positioned to amplify the first
beam during a first pass and to amplify the second beam during a second pass.