HoloOr, manufacturer of diffractive optical elements (DOEs), launched a new series of "Stable-Top" DOEs. These are similar to the Top-Hat beam-shapers, but are much less sensitive to misalignments. A simulated beam shape of this spot is displayed in the figure.
Whilst the resulting spot sometimes have unwanted stronger side lobes and central ripple, the benefits of the Stable Top compared to the traditional Top-Hat design are:
- Less sensitivity to misalignment
- Less sensitivity to ellipticity of the input beam
- Less sensitivity to the orientation of the input beam
- Less sensitivity to the beam quality of the input beam
- Resulting spot has a sharper more well defined edge
