Experimentally simulating the beam shaping capabilities of deformable mirrors using a liquid crystal spatial light modulator

Abstract The number of mirror segments, mirror geometry and orientation are essential parameters when assessing the beam-shaping capabilities of deformable mirrors. Here, we use a Liquid Crystal on Silicon Spatial Light Modulator (LCoS-SLM) to mimic the mechanical design of a deformable mirror and quantitatively analyse the effect of the number of mirror segments and their geometrical structure on resulting structured modes. Our approach can be used as a test bed prior to designing a deformable mirror for high power beam shaping.