A beam homogenizer is a device that smoothes out the irregularities in a laser beam profile to create a more uniform one. Most beam homogenizers use a multifaceted mirror
A mirror, also known as a looking glass, is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror forms an image of whatever is in front of it, which is then focused through the lens of the eye or a camera ...
with square facets. The mirror reflects light at different angles to create a beam with uniform power across the whole beam profile (a "top hat" profile). Some applications of beam homogenizers include their use with excimer laser
An excimer laser, sometimes more correctly called an exciplex laser, is a form of ultraviolet laser which is commonly used in the production of microelectronic devices, semiconductor based integrated circuits or "chips", eye surgery, and micro ...
s for making computer chip
An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...
s and with lasers for heat treating
Heat treating (or heat treatment) is a group of industrial, thermal and metalworking processes used to alter the physical, and sometimes chemical, properties of a material. The most common application is metallurgical. Heat treatments are al ...
.
Most lasers produce a Gaussian beam
In optics, a Gaussian beam is an idealized beam of electromagnetic radiation whose amplitude envelope in the transverse plane is given by a Gaussian function; this also implies a Gaussian intensity (irradiance) profile. This fundamental (or ...
energy distribution. A beam homogenizer will create an evenly distributed energy of the beam instead of the Gaussian shape. Unlike a beam shaper, which imparts a certain ''shape'' to the beam, a beam homogenizer spreads out the central concentrated energy of the beam among the entire beam diameter.
A simple beam homogenizer can be just a murky piece of glass. However, this is a very simple solution with low efficiency, producing a blurry beam. For most applications/uses, advanced methods of beam homogenizing are required such as diffractive beam homogenizers or using a micro lens array (MLA).
External links
Lens Array Vs Rod Lens For Laser Beam Homogenization
References