Stacked-actuators deformable mirror vs bimorph mirror for laser beam shaping

We present our latest research results on intensity distribution transformation from Gaussian to a flattop and doughnut. The theoretical calculations and experimental results of the efficiency of different types of deformable mirrors are given. During the experiments the wavefront was measured with Shack-Hartmann sensor and then modified with bimorph deformable mirror to reach the desired intensity distribution in the far-field. Then the bimorph mirror was substituted with the stacked-actuators deformable mirror to confirm the simulations.