An adaptive laser beam shaping technique based on a genetic algorithm

A new adaptive beam intensity shaping technique based on the combination of a 19-element piezo-electricity deformable mirror (DM) and a global genetic algorithm is presented. This technique can adaptively adjust the voltages of the 19 actuators on the DM to reduce the difference between the target beam shape and the actual beam shape. Numerical simulations and experimental results show that within the stroke range of the DM, this technique can be well used to create the given beam intensity profiles on the focal plane. OCIS codes: 010.1080, 140.0140, 220.1000. In some domain, such as inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and laser machining, focusing the beam profile to shape a specified intensity on the target plane is the ultimate goal[1]. However, conventional shaping devices are generally designed for the given beam parameters thus cannot be used broadly. As one of the active cor-rection elements of adaptive optics (AO) systems, piezo-electricity deformable mirror (DM) is widely used in adaptive optics for wavefront aberration correction[2,3]