High-power dynamic lens for additive manufacturing

Abstract

A dynamic lens for projecting different output beam shapes upon a target for heating, melting, or otherwise modifying the state of the target material. The dynamic lens includes a first light source of high power laser diodes generating a first light beam onto a lensing array with an LCOS device including a plurality of liquid crystal cells to curve and focus the first light beam into a second light beam forming the output beam shape on the target. A controller generates a control signal corresponding to the output beam shape. A single-point laser projects a third light beam tracing an outline of the output beam shape on the target to more clearly define the edge of the output beam shape. The single-point laser may be an IR fiber laser source scanned or traced by a scanner, such as a galvano scanner, directing the third light beam in two dimensions.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.