Fabrication and Characterization of 1-D diffusing elements

Certain high power laser applications require thin homogeneous laser lines. In this paper we describe the concept, fabrication and characterization of a 1-D diffuser that generates such a line. The device is based on an array of concave cylinder lenses with a statistically distributed width and a fix radius of curvature. The fabrication is based on isotropic wet etching of fused silica. Measurement results are compared to simulation which show good agreement.