Acousto-optic control of the 2D energy profile of laser beam

Acousto-optic control of the energy profile of laser radiation is considered. High-efficiency multibeam Bragg diffraction with a combination of beams close in angular space that form an averaged single-beam pattern is employed. The 2D intensity profile is obtained as a product of two independent 1D profiles. A polarization-independent two-coordinate acousto-optic deflector is used to experimentally obtain several profiles (in particular, an almost uniform) with a total efficiency of no less than 85% and a switching time of about 10 $\mu$s. The method can be employed in systems for material processing using high-power lasers.