Diffractive optical element for super-Gaussian beam shaping on intersatellite optical communications

Abstract

Pointing jitter can significantly degrade the performance of intersatellite optical communication links. This work investigates diffractive optical beam shaping as a means of generating super-Gaussian profiles with reduced sensitivity to transmitter misalignment. Phase screens are designed using a Gerchberg--Saxton phase-retrieval algorithm and evaluated for different super-Gaussian orders. Lower-order profiles are reproduced accurately, whereas higher orders are increasingly limited by numerical discretization and finite-aperture effects. The practical implementation of the phase screens using fused-silica diffractive optical elements is assessed through sensitivity analyses of radial manufacturing resolution, phase quantization, phase-depth errors, and incident-beam wavefront aberrations. The results provide manufacturing tolerances and wavefront-quality requirements for preserving the desired beam shape.