LASER-MACHINING EXPERIMENT WITH AN EXCIMER-LASER AND A KINOFORM

We have used a kinoform to increase the beam-power utilization in an e xcimer-laser-machining experiment. The kinoform creates the pattern to be machined. Thus less power is wasted on the blocking parts of a sha dow mask. To achieve as smooth an intensity profile as possible, the k inoform was also used together with a microlens-array beam homogenizer . We discuss the intensity distributions of the patterns created by th e kinoform with and without the beam homogenizer as well as the design of the kinoform and the homogenizer, with emphasis on the relation to the coherence properties of the laser beam. (C) 1995 Optical Society of America