Flexible beam shaping system using fly’s eye condenser

Abstract

Normally, fly's eye condensers are used to homogenize light. However, in the case of fully coherent light, a fly's eye condenser, in connection with some simple optical elements, such as a diffractive axicon, a grating, and a telescope, can be used as a quite flexible beam shaping system, forming arrays of rings, parts of rings, or other structures with varying diameters. We present the principle, some simulation results, and some first experimental results.