Compact integrator design for short-distance sharp and unconventional geometric irradiance tailoring

A compact microlens array (MLA) integral homogenizer composed of a projection MLA, a condenser MLA, and a subimage array mask based on Kohler illumination is presented herein. By adopting the optimal design of an aspheric projection sublens, a short-distance integrator for unconventional geometric irradiance tailoring can be acquired. Compared with the traditional integrator, the integral lens is removed in the proposed integrator. An incident beam with a larger divergence angle is permitted while a sharp illumination performance is maintained. In addition, the illumination distribution with a predefined geometrical profile can be obtained by introducing a subimage array mask without replacing the MLA elements. Through the introduced mask, the illumination attenuation area is cut, the distortion is caused by the large NA, and the peak effect caused by the integral lens of the traditional integrator can be eliminated. The subimage array mask is generated by combining ray tracing and the radial basis function image warping method. By introducing the array mask into the system, an 80% edge relative illumination and an 85% overall illumination uniformity are realized for a compact large-NA integrator with NA = 0.3 and thickness of 4.5 mm. An 88% edge relative illumination and a 92% overall illumination uniformity are realized for a small-NA integrator with NA = 0.15.