Anamorphic Shaping of Laser Beams
How to Transforms a Collimated Laser Beam with Elliptical Cross-section into a Circular Beam or Vice Versa
by Ulrich Oechsner, Christian Knothe and Mats Rahmel
Anamorphic beam shaping optics are, e.g., used to transform elliptical laser beams to a round shape before coupling them to single-mode optical fibers. Conversely, there are cases where originally round laser beams need to be transformed into an elliptical shape. The article describes some sample applications and discusses several concepts of anamorphic beam shaping and their respective advantages and disadvantages. [more]