Abstract
In the laser fusion driver, the laser beam propagates through a long distance and passes a lot of optical components. The beam tth sharp edge profile acquires diffraction ripples. These ripples induce the self-focusing in optical components. Thus the intensity nonuniformiy causes the damage of optical components. To overcome this problem, we are investigating the liquid crystal optics to produce a super Gaussian beam with a smooth edge profiles by controlling the polarization. The fabricated serrated apodizing aperture provided a significant improvement of beam quality, and this technology would be quite useful for controlling the beam profile.
