Cylinder Lenses for Beam Shaping

Abstract

AbstractIn the modern world, lasers are a critical part of so many new technologies. Fields like manufacturing, measurement, medical treatments and scientific research and many more all depend on lasers. The quality of the beam in all of these application areas is crucial and can often be the difference between success and failure. Cylinder lenses are commonly used to shape and manipulate a laser beam and any errors or aberrations they introduce will have a direct impact on the beam quality. Manufacturing methods for cylinder lenses differ from traditional spherical optics and because of this, there are additional specifications to be aware of and consider when using them. Without properly specifying and controlling these parameters problems such as uneven line thickness, beam deviation and image rotation can reduce system performance. This article will line out the unique specifications of cylinder lenses that need to be considered in the process of system integration and their potential effect on the performance (Fig. 1).