Design programs for optical choppers wheels with different configurations

摘要

Optical choppers are a most used device in laser setups (including in biomedical applications) for generating laser impulses, accurate attenuation, obscuration or elimination of different wavelengths. We present the design programs we are developing for macroscopic optical choppers with rotational wings. We have proposed previously the analysis of different types of chopper wheels with windows:(i) with linear margins (the "classical" device) and (ii) with semicircular margins, inward or outward (the "eclipse" choppers). The latter has been, to the best of our knowledge, of our proposal (patent pending). This rigorous mathematical analysis took into account all the possible relationships between the constructive and kinematics parameters of the device. This theory allowed for developing a design program for each type of choppers - to obtain a specific type of output laser impulse. Examples of applying this program are presented, for each type of laser beams that has been considered so far:top-hat (with constant intensity distribution over the entire beam section), Gaussian and Bessel. A discussion on the laser impulses obtained with each type of device and laser beam concludes the paper.