Slanted hole array beam profiler (SHArP) - A high-resolution portable beam profiler based on a linear aperture array

We demonstrate a novel high-resolution portable beam profiler based on a slanted linear array of small apertures, termed a slanted hole array beam profiler (SHArP). The apertures are directly fabricated on a metal-coated CMOS imaging sensor. With a single linear scan, the aperture array can establish a virtual grid of sampling points for beam profiling. With our prototype, we demonstrate beam profiling of Gaussian beams over an area of 66.5 μm × 66.5 μm with a resolution of 0.8 μm (compare with the CMOS pixel size of 10 μm). The resolution can be improved into the range of submicrometers by fabricating smaller apertures. The good correspondence between the measured and calculated beam profiles proves the fidelity of our new beam profiling scheme. © 2006 Optical Society of America.