Refractive beam-shaping element fabricated by silver-sodium ion-exchange in glass

In order to manufacture a refractive beam-shaping element for high-energy laser applications, designed to transform a laser- into a flat-top beam-profile, polymer based fabrication methods are not suitable since the material experiences changes due to absorbed power. As an alternative we investigated the possibility of using field-assisted and thermal mask-structured silver-sodium ion exchange in glass for the production of planar phase-elements for this application. We start our design with a numerical simulation of the exchange process in order to optimize the mask-structure. We report on first results of element fabrication and characterisation.