A micro-adaptive optics system for aberrated laser beams compensation

摘要

Many high power lasers typically suffer from reduced beam quality due to thermally induced aberrations. Adaptive optics is an effective way to compensate the dynamic aberration. But adaptive optics has not found widespread acceptance due to the cost and complexity. It is not until recently that can the problem be readily solved with the development of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based on silicon micromaching technology. Calculations are performed showing the effect of Zernike aberrations on laser beam quality. We describe an adaptive optics system based on a MEMS deformable mirror to compensate the thermally induced aberrations. From the test result, it is explicit that the adaptive system can correct the thermally induced aberration of high power lasers and increase the Strehl ratio to about 80% averagely.