Abstract
A simple numerical method is proposed for the design of two aspherical surfaces, each comprising multiple segmented refractive planes, for generating a collimated beam with a specific irradiance profile in a beam shaping system with a divergent light source. However, in real-world manufacturing, this performance improvement is obtained at the expense of a greater cost and complexity. Accordingly, a second algorithm is proposed which maximizes the number of rays passing through the central regions of the refractive planes in the second aspherical surface and hence minimizes the total number of segments required to achieve the same beam shaping performance. The feasibility of the proposed method is demonstrated through the design of two aspherical lenses for generating collimated output beams with ring- and triangle-like irradiance profiles, respectively. The experimental results show that the beam profiles are in close agreement with the desired irradiance distributions. In general, the results indicate that the proposed method provides a versatile and efficient approach for achieving the desired collimated profile in beam forming systems with a divergent light source.