Variable phase grating optical aberrator.
We have developed and analyzed a heated laminar airflow device which introduces easily varied aberrations into optical beam trains. The aberrator produced nearly sinusoidal optical path differences of modulation depth 0 to 2lambda (peak to valley) at a 355-nm wavelength and a spatial frequency of ~2 cycles/cm. The phase modulation was measured via lateral shearing interferometry and agreed with a sinusoidal near field phase model to ~10%. The far field intensity profile was in qualitative agreement with the theory of focused sinusoidal phase gratings.
L P
LP
Schelonka
K R
KR
Calahan
C M
CM
Clayton