Continuous axial scanning of a Gaussian beam via beam steering

Opt Express. 2017 Sep 18;25(19):23060-23069. doi: 10.1364/OE.25.023060.

Abstract

We propose and demonstrate experimentally the transfer of one spatial degree of freedom of a laser beam onto another one. Using a multi-plane light conversion device (MPLC) and a modal analysis, we designed a passive setup with immediate response which couples a displacement and tilt in the transverse plane to a longitudinal shift of the focus point of a beam. With this design, we demonstrated a shift of the focal point of the output beam by 4 zR along the propagation axis.