Dynamic flat-topped laser beam shaping method using mixed region amplitude freedom algorithm

Abstract

A dynamic beam shaping method is proposed for the generation of flat-top beams (FTBs) in the far field. Using the mixed-region amplitude freedom algorithm, this new method is used to design the required phase distribution encoded on a spatial light modulator for the generation of FTB profiles. The characteristics of these new beam shaping methods are used as beam parameters, such as the laser beam size, the beam intensity of square FTBs, and the root-mean-square error (RMSE). Using our proposed method, the theoretical performance of beam intensity shaping is improved to an RMSE < 0.02 with a minimum number of iterations of phase reconstruction. Using the phase hologram of dynamic beam shaping, theoretical and experimental comparisons of edge steepness and plateau uniformity were established for the square FTBs of variable beam sizes. It is shown that the dynamic beam shaping of FTBs can produce high intensity uniformity in the plateau region with steep edges, which makes it an effective tool, especially for laser machining applications.