Adaptive optics, although originally developed for correcting aberrations in astronomical telescopes, also offer the capability to rapidly alter the intensity profile of a laser beam. Such a flexible beam shaping tool is highly attractive for many laser-based manufacturing techniques, allowing dynamic changes of the intensity profile in and around focus, both in-process and to switch between optimised beam shapes for different processes using the same laser. Here we focus on the application of a three different types of adaptive optic to nanosecond pulsed laser machining applications. Focal beam shaping results using (i) a piezoelectric deformable mirror; (ii) a bimorph mirror and (iii) a liquid crystal spatial light modulator are presented and comparisons made. Initial results obtained by applying these adaptive optics to laser micromachining applications using a nanosecond pulsed laser are shown.

Topics
Piezoelectricity, Cantilever, Adaptive optics, Liquid crystals, Optical modulators, Telescopes, Lasers, Micro-machining
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