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Updated: Jun 10, 2026
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The Generation of Higher-order Laguerre-Gauss Optical Beams for High-precision Interferometry
Published on: August 12, 2013
High-energy flat-top beams for laser launching using a Gaussian mirror
Hiroki Fujiwara1, Kathryn E Brown, Dana D Dlott
1School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
Applied Optics
|July 22, 2010
Summary
Researchers converted Gaussian laser beams into flat-top beams using mirrors, achieving 25% efficiency. This method is crucial for stable laser-launched flyer plate experiments, ensuring consistent velocity and preventing disintegration during flight.
Area of Science:
- Laser physics and optics
- Materials science and engineering
Background:
- Laser-launched thin-foil flyer plates require flat-top beams for uniform velocity.
- Gaussian beams can cause flyer disintegration due to non-uniform launch velocity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate and compare methods for converting Gaussian laser beams into flat-top beams.
- To evaluate the efficiency and flatness of different beam-shaping techniques.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a variable reflectivity mirror (VRM) with a Gaussian reflectivity profile and a hard aperture.
- Compared VRM performance against a refractive beam shaper.
- Employed a high-energy pulsed Nd:YAG laser with a Gaussian mirror to generate flat-top beams.
Main Results:
- A super-Gaussian mirror can theoretically achieve 30% efficiency with 3% variation.
- A Gaussian mirror achieved 25% conversion efficiency with 6% variation (sigma=4.2%).
- Launched 400 µm Al flyer plates at 1.3 km/s with a 2% velocity spread.
Conclusions:
- Variable reflectivity mirrors offer a viable method for generating flat-top laser beams.
- Achieved flat-top beams enable stable flyer plate launches with minimal velocity variation.
- The demonstrated technique has practical applications in high-velocity impact studies.
