In this paper, the generation of two-dimensional flattop focusing with second order full Poincaré beams under low numerical aperture focusing condition is proposed and experimentally demonstrated by using a liquid crystal spatial light modulator (SLM). Different input beam sizes can be accommodated by conveniently rotating the half-wave plate and adjusting the working distance. Furthermore, the quantization of the phase pattern loaded onto the SLM has been theoretically and experimentally studied, which potentially may lead to the fabrication of a compact versatile flattop beam shaper. High quality flattop profiles with steep edge roll-off can be obtained with this technique.

Date Published: 7 September 2011
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 8130, Laser Beam Shaping XII, 81300D (7 September 2011); doi: 10.1117/12.892869

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8130:
Laser Beam Shaping XII
Andrew Forbes; Todd E. Lizotte, Editor(s)