Experimentally simulating the beam shaping capabilities of deformable mirrors using a liquid crystal spatial light modulator

Abstract

The number of mirror segments, mirror geometry and orientation are essential parameters when assessing the beam-shaping capabilities of deformable mirrors. Here, we use a Liquid Crystal on Silicon Spatial Light Modulator (LCoS-SLM) to mimic the mechanical design of a deformable mirror and quantitatively analyse the effect of the number of mirror segments and their geometrical structure on resulting structured modes. Our approach can be used as a test bed prior to designing a deformable mirror for high power beam shaping.

Optical design of speckle suppression in laser measurement system

“…Commonly employed beam shaping techniques for obtaining line beams include the use of aspherical lens sets [6] , freeform surface lenses [7] , diffractive optics [8] , and liquid crystal spatial light modulators [9] . Nevertheless, these methods suffer from complex structures and low light energy uniformity.…”