Generating arbitrary laser beam shapes through phase-mapped designed beam splitting

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple, real-time method for generating high-definition, arbitrary laser beam shapes using phase-mapped beam splitting with a spatial light modulator, applicable to various optical applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel phase encoding technique on a spatial light modulator for creating customizable laser beam profiles without additional phase-plates.

Findings

Produces sharp, speckles-free images

Enables real-time control of light distributions

Simplifies encoding of complex beam shapes

Abstract

We describe here a method to generate high-definition arbitrary laser beam shapes and profiles useful to many applications, ranging from optical patterning and lithography to optical trapping of microscopic particles and ultracold atoms. The phase contrast between a binary grating and a targeted intensity distribution is encoded on a spatial light modulator to control light diffraction, producing very sharp, speckles-free, and smooth images. Besides simplicity, not requiring additional phase-plates, the method provides straightforward encoding of images onto phase-only masks by a direct pixel mapping, allowing simpler feedback schemes to correct and control light distributions and optical potentials in real-time.