Manufacture of refractive and diffractive beam-shaping elements in higher quantities using glass molding technology

Michael Wolz; Ullrich Blöcher; Gerhard Dross; Jana Schmitt; Christian Bischoff; Udo Umhofer

doi:10.1117/12.2079789

3 March 2015 Manufacture of refractive and diffractive beam-shaping elements in higher quantities using glass molding technology

Michael Wolz, Ullrich Blöcher, Gerhard Dross, Jana Schmitt, Christian Bischoff, Udo Umhofer

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9343, Laser Resonators, Microresonators, and Beam Control XVII; 93431Z (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2079789
Event: SPIE LASE, 2015, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Laser beam shaping elements can be used e.g. for material processing. The results of these processes can be improved when the usually Gaussian profile of the laser is transformed into a top hat profile, which can be circular or rectangular in shape. Another frequently used type of beam-forming devices are beam splitters for parallel processing using only one laser. These types of beam formers can be implemented as diffractive or refractive elements. So far these optics are produced either directly by means of lithography e.g. in glass or in plastic using a hot embossing process or nanoimprint technology. Elements produced in this way have either the disadvantage of high costs or they are limited in temperature range, laser power or wavelength. A newly developed molding process for glass allows the manufacture of larger numbers of optics with reduced cost.

The production of molds for refractive top hat beam shaping devices requires very high precision of the applied grinding process. Form deviations below 100 nm are necessary to obtain a homogeneous illumination. Measurements of the surface topography of gauss to top hat beam shaping elements using white light interferometry are presented as well as results of optical measurements of the beam profile using a camera.

Continuous diffractive beam shaping elements for beam splitting applications are designed to generate several sub-beams each carrying the same energy. In order to achieve this, form deviations of less than 50 nm are required. Measurements of the surface of a 1 x 5 beam splitter are compared with ideal beam splitter profiles. The resulting beam intensity distribution of a molded element is presented.

Citation Download Citation

Michael Wolz, Ullrich Blöcher, Gerhard Dross, Jana Schmitt, Christian Bischoff, and Udo Umhofer "Manufacture of refractive and diffractive beam-shaping elements in higher quantities using glass molding technology", Proc. SPIE 9343, Laser Resonators, Microresonators, and Beam Control XVII, 93431Z (3 March 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2079789

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