Patent ID: 8728719

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a plurality of optical elements, the method comprising: providing a partially transmissive slide characterized by a predetermined intensity profile; providing a first piece of photo-thermo-refractive (PTR) glass; directing first UV radiation through the partially transmissive slide to impinge on the first piece of PTR glass with the predetermined intensity profile; exposing predetermined portions of the first piece of PTR glass to the first UV radiation; thermally treating the exposed first piece of PTR glass to form one of the plurality of optical elements having a first predetermined phase profile operable to generate a second predetermined intensity profile at a predetermined distance from the first piece of PTR glass; providing a second piece of PTR glass at the predetermined distance; directing second UV radiation through the thermally treated first piece of PTR glass to impinge on the second piece of PTR glass; exposing predetermined portions of the second piece of PTR glass to the second UV radiation having the second predetermined intensity profile; thermally treating the exposed second piece of PTR glass to form another of the plurality of optical elements having a second predetermined phase profile differing from the first predetermined phase profile, wherein the second predetermined phase profile is operable to modify a laser beam to produce a homogenized intensity profile; and repeating providing and processing of the second piece of PTR glass using additional pieces of PTR glass to form a remainder of the plurality of optical elements having the second predetermined phase profile.