Optical design and fabrication of a monolithic, slanted freeform shaper for laser beam shaping

Laser beam shaping has been promising for many applications, such as two-photon polymerization[1], advanced microscopy[2], laser material processing[3]. Typical components are apertures, filters, diffractive optical elements (DOEs), refractive lenses, etc. So far, most designs have been focusing on how to shape a laser beam in a co-axial optical path, whereas certain applications require tilt geometry for a skew optical path [4]. Beam shaping problem is in general an inversed problem, which can be solved by ray-mapping, supporting quadric and Monge-Ampère equation method [5]. Ray-mapping method has its superiority for its high compatibility for various applications. Our previous work has led to a generalized ray-mapping method (A paper under review), which solves the Monge-Ampère equations for versatile input and output irradiance distributions[6]. This method is quite practical and readily to use for optical designers. In this work, we have further investigated its application for a top-hat beam shaping in a slanted illumination configuration.