Refractive microlens structures with high-damage thresholds enable flexible beam shaping of high-power lasers

O. Homburg; L. Aschke; V. Lissotschenko

doi:10.1117/12.695972

15 January 2007 Refractive microlens structures with high-damage thresholds enable flexible beam shaping of high-power lasers

O. Homburg, L. Aschke, V. Lissotschenko

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6403, Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 2006; 640324 (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.695972
Event: Boulder Damage Symposium XXXVIII: Annual Symposium on Optical Materials for High Power Lasers, 2006, Boulder, Colorado, United States

Abstract

High power and high energy laser sources are used in a large variety of industrial and scientific applications for material processing. The most common are welding, soldering, cutting, drilling, laser thermal annealing, micro-machining, ablation and micro-lithography. For optimised processes the most important laser sources today are: CO₂-lasers, Nd- YAG lasers, high-power diode lasers, excimer lasers or fiber lasers. Beside the right choice of the suitable laser source the right choice of high performance optics for generating the appropriate beam profile is of high importance for the applications. In many cases homogenous top-hat square or rectangular light fields as well as light lines are indispensable or add strong advantages to the application. This takes into account that gaussian shaped laser foci are not the ideal solution. Refractive micro-lenses and micro-lens arrays based on damage resistant materials are an efficient, compact and flexible solution to achieve adequate intensity distributions on the work piece. LIMO has a unique production technology based on computer-aided design that enables the manufacture of high-precision microlens arrays with free programmable surfaces. Thus, specific beam profiles with superior uniformity and efficiency can be generated. Compact beam shaper modules with prealigned optics have been developed. These modules simply have to be placed into the collimated input beam and the required intensity profile is generated at the target without any complicated alignment.

Citation Download Citation

O. Homburg, L. Aschke, and V. Lissotschenko "Refractive microlens structures with high-damage thresholds enable flexible beam shaping of high-power lasers", Proc. SPIE 6403, Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 2006, 640324 (15 January 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.695972

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available