Efficient beam shaping for highpower laser applications

Abstract

High‐power laser sources are used in many applications for material processing, like annealing, welding, soldering, printing and micro‐machining. Additionally, they are widely used as illumination sources for metrology – e.g. LIDAR – and vision systems based on CCD cameras. In many of these applications homogeneous top‐hat, square, or rectangular light fields as well as light lines are indispensable or add strong advantages to the application. Based on computer‐aided design it is possible to manufacture high‐precision microlens arrays with free programmable surfaces today. Thus, specific beam profiles with superior uniformity and efficiency can be generated. Compact beam shaper modules with prealigned optics have been developed. High‐power diode laser systems for the NIR spectral region from 1 W to several KW are available with application‐specific beam shapes due to integrated micro‐optics. Special attention is put on compact and solid design for rough environmental conditions.