Laser Beam Expander Theory |
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| Laser beam expanders are designed to either decrease the laser's beam spot size at large distances or produce a larger diameter collimated laser beam. The main types of beam expanders: Keplerian and Galilean. In its simplest form, the Galilean type consists of a positive and a negative focal length lens whereas the Keplerian type consists of two positive focal length lenses. Both designs provide a certain angular magnification, called the Expander Power. The beam diameter is first increased in size by this power and then the beam divergence is reduced by the same power. This combination yields a beam that is not only larger, but one that is also highly collimated. The result is a smaller beam at a large distance when compared to the laser alone. See the below equation: | |||
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This equation is an approximation for the collimated output beam size at a given distance. In
addition, an expanded beam can yield smaller spot sizes when used in
combination with additional focusing optics. This is very useful DiOptika’s
beam expanders are of the Galilean type. The advantages of the
Galilean design over the Keplerian is that it contains no internal |

