Diffractive optical elements for high power CO2 laser applications

High power CO₂ lasers are of great importance in manufacturing industry where they find use as cutting, welding, annealing and marking tools. Beamshaping elements for CO₂ light based on refraction are commonly implemented using semiconductor materials. Refractive elements are inherently lossy and difficult to cool effectively. Diffractive optical elements (DOEs) offer several advantages over such elements. DOEs can be mass produced using microlithography, for example on a silicon substrate, and by copying using galvano-techniques. The resulting metallic copies can then be cooled from the back during use