Vorrichtung zum Homogenisieren der Lichtverteilung eines Laserstrahles

Many laser beam sources have an energy density distribution in the beam cross-section deviating from the desired constant energy, and its local transients can lead to an impairment. In order to create a device for homogenizing the light distribution of a laser beam, by which the totality of the emerging component beams have the same divergence as the primary beam, an optical system is set up in the path of the laser beam, said optical system comprising a beam splitter and three path-folding mirrors. The component beam reflected by the beam splitter and folded by the path-folding mirrors and the component beam transmitted by the beam splitter are combined to form a total beam whose component beams have an offset. As a result of the two component beams having an offset, a very high homogeneity of the laser beam is achieved, whereby the total beam has the same divergence as the primary laser beam. The path-folding mirrors have a low numerical aperture and are low-cost. The device is prefe rably used in material processing using laser radiation.