Decoherent focusing design and advanced passive speckle reduction for laser illumination systems

Abstract

To effectively apply passive speckle reduction methods, it is essential to use an illumination system that maximally exploits the non-ideal temporal coherence and angular diversity (spatial coherence reduction) of laser light. This study examines the necessary conditions for these factors to act independently to achieve maximum speckle reduction. A novel design for decoherent focusing of laser illumination into a rectangular, uniformly lit spot is proposed. The design is based on an array of rectangular prisms of varying heights and a Fresnel lens comprising crossed 1D cylindrical Fresnel lenses with flat facets. Mathematical modeling demonstrates that such a lens can effectively focus a Gaussian beam into a rectangular uniform illuminated spot, even for lenses with a high numerical aperture (NA = 0.2). A planar implementation of this lens is also proposed. The comb-like spectrum of a laser diode is shown to limit the capabilities of passive methods, as it is challenging to generate a significant number of decorrelated laser sub-beams beyond the available spectral modes. Experimental results confirm that applying a slight modulation (∼15%) to the laser diode current during intensity integration transforms the comb spectrum into a continuous one. This enables the generation of an unlimited number of decorrelated laser beams, independent of the laser’s spectral modes, to achieve the desired number for a specific optical device.