Beam reformatting of CO2 array lasers

F. Villarreal, R. Abram, D. R. Jones, H. J. Baker, D. R. Hall

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

For CO2 lasers, high power array sources are available using RF discharge excitation of waveguide laser channels in both linear and 2-D array format. The high optical beam quality of the laser output from each individual waveguide channel of the array enables the manipulation of the individual beams in the near-field to improve the composite beam quality and/or reformat the beam shape to one which is optimized for a particular material processing application. A Clarkson-Hanna optical arrangement can be employed to increase the fill factor and brightness of the 2-D array. By adding simple astigmatic reflective optics, rectangles of variable aspect ratio can be generated at the work surface. In comparison with alternative methods of beam reformatting, this method has the advantage of low cost, simplicity and low insertion loss, while providing access to a range of rectangular beam shapes for surface processing applications.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 1998 International Symposium on Information Theory, CLEO/EUROPE'98
Pages9
Publication statusPublished - 1998
Event1998 International Symposium on Information Theory - Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Duration: 14 Sept 199818 Sept 1998

Conference

Conference1998 International Symposium on Information Theory
Abbreviated titleCLEO/EUROPE'98
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityGlasgow, Scotland
Period14/09/9818/09/98

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