Open AccessBroadband beam shaping with harmonic diffractive optics
Author(s) -
Munshi Singh,
Jani Tervo,
Jari Turunen
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.22.022680
Subject(s) - optics , broadband , physics , femtosecond , diffraction , harmonic , amplified spontaneous emission , laser , beam (structure) , harmonics , optoelectronics , quantum mechanics , voltage
We consider spatial shaping of broadband (either stationary or pulsed) spatially coherent light, comparing refractive, standard diffractive, and harmonic diffractive (modulo 2πM) elements. Considering frequency-integrated target profiles we show that, contrary to common belief, standard diffractive (M = 1) elements work reasonably well for, e.g., Gaussian femtosecond pulses and spatially coherent amplified-spontaneous-emission sources such as superluminescent diodes. It is also shown that harmonic elements with M ≥ 5 behave in essentially the same way as refractive elements and clearly outperform standard diffractive elements for highly broadband light.