Design and Testing of a Refractive Laser Beam Homogenizer

Abstract

A survey is made of various techniques to create a homogeneous or flat top laser beam profile. A refractive homogenizer was designed for use with a ND:YAG laser with output at its fundamental (1.06 micrometer) and frequency doubled (532 nm) modes. The system consists of a 2X beam expander and two faceted cylindrical lenses with differing focal lengths. Each cylindrical lens focusses its input into a strip the width of a facet. By orienting their axes at a 90 degree angle and focussing them on the same plane, the beam is concentrated into a square focus. Formulae for calculating the facet angles are derived and a FORTRAN computer square focus. Formulae for calculating the facet angles are derived and a FORTRAN computer program was written to calculate them with a precision greater than one is able to fabricate them.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1984
Accession Number
ADA146997

Entities

People

  • Brian L. Hoekstra
  • Kenneth R. Bradley
  • Nils C. Fernelius

Organizations

  • Wright Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Computer Programs
  • Diffraction
  • Energy
  • Focal Planes
  • Government Procurement
  • Laser Applications
  • Laser Beams
  • Lasers
  • Materials
  • Materials Laboratories
  • Measurement
  • Optical Materials
  • Optics
  • Refraction
  • Refractive Index
  • Yag Lasers

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Computer Science.
  • Geodesy
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy