Abstract

Deflection of a laser beam by Bragg scattering from a volumetric thermal phase grating produced in a gaseous or liquid medium shows promise of being a useful way to repoint rapidly large-aperture high-energy laser beams by nonmechanical means.¹ We have demonstrated that it is also possible to impress a phase correction on a beam while simultaneously changing its direction of propagation; specifically, we have produced transient phase gratings which can either focus or defocus an incident collimated probe laser. More complex phase perturbations can in principle be impressed in a similar manner.

© 1988 Optical Society of America