Wavefront measurements of diode laser beams with large dynamic ranges

We propose and demonstrate a method for the measurement of the wavefronts of high-power diode laser beams with large dynamic ranges. Our wavefront sensor consists of a movable pinhole and a wavefront-slope detector. The measurement results show that the wavefront sensor exhibits a large dynamic range of pi/2 to -pi/2 and a high precision on the measured average wavefront slope. The wavefronts of high-power diode laser beams having large divergence angles at arbitrary locations (including near and far fields) can be reconstructed via the wavefront measurement at a given location. The amplitude and phase distributions of a laser beam could be determined from the measured optical field data using diffraction theory. The experimental measurement of the wavefront of a 980 nm diode laser beam will be presented and discussed.