Optical Beam Expander

Beam expander from shanghai optics.

Optical beam expander. A beam expander will have a design input diameter as well typically a diameter smaller than the maximum input diameter where the optical performance of the beam expander is optimized. They are also used to reduce the beam diameter which may be useful when using acousto or electro optic modulators. Our fixed magnification rotating lens optical beam expander. A beam expander can enlarge an input beam by the factor m but it can also reduce it by the factor 1 m with a reversed optical beam path.

In most cases a beam expander is realized as an optical telescope consisting of two lenses in rare cases of two curved mirrors. The fixed magnification sliding lens beam expanders are offered with optics that have either narrowband or wideband ar coatings. Two different configurations are common. Beam expanders are optical devices which increases the diameter of the input beam to produce a larger output.

For more than 75 years edmund optics eo has been a leading producer of optics imaging and photonics technology. Thorlabs variable magnification galilean beam expanders are available with either a 2x 5x or a 5x 10x continuously variable beam expansion ratio. For the 2x 5x zoom models the expansion ratio can be adjusted from the minimum to the maximum value via one full rotation of the zoom control. A keplerian telescope consists of two focusing lenses where the distance between the two lenses is the sum of their focal lengths.

When the design input diameter of the beam expander matches the actual input beam diameter system performance will be optimized. Usually beam expanders are used to increase the diameter of laser beams. How to build a beam expander beam expansion or reduction is a common application requirement in most labs using lasers or light sources and optics. Thorlabs galilean type beam expanders which are available in both fixed and variable magnification options are offered for use in the uv visible near infrared and mid infrared spectral ranges.

Laser beam expanders increase the diameter of a collimated input beam to a larger collimated output beam for applications such as laser scanning interferometry and remote sensing. They take a beam of light and expand its size. An optical beam expander also known as a collimator or up collimator is a two or more element optical system that changes the divergence characteristics and the size of the beam. Contemporary laser beam expanders are afocal systems developed from well established optical telescope fundamentals.