title: Beam profile shaping for laser radars that use detector arrays.
abstract: The beam shaper we developed shapes the transmit beam of a CO(2) laser radar that uses a linear detector array. It consists of a diffraction grating and an anamorphic prism beam compressor and produces a stretched profile that efficiently and uniformly illuminates the far-field footprint of the detector array. The diffraction grating phase modulates the near field or the laser beam to generate a far-field flattop intensity profile, whereas the compressor produces the necessary profile eccentricity. We have achieved conversion efficiencies in the 70-90% range.
authors.forename: W B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Veldkamp
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kastner