OPTICAL SYSTEM HAVING ABERRATIONS FOR TRANSFORMING A GAUSSIAN LASER-BEAM INTENSITY PROFILE TO A QUASI-FLAT-TOPPED INTENSITY PROFILE IN A FOCAL REGION OF THE OPTICAL SYSTEM

摘要

An optical system is configured for projecting an image having a quasi-flat-topped intensity profile from a laser-beam having a Gaussian intensity profile. The optical system includes a diffraction limited lens for focusing the laser beam and one or more optical elements that introduce aberration into the beam before the beam is focused. The aberration introduced causes the Gaussian intensity profile to be changed to the quasi-flat-topped intensity profile at some position in a focal region of the diffraction-limited lens.