Flat Optics for 3D Ultrafast-Laser Shaping: Performance and Applications

Murray and Menon report advances in inverse-designed flat optics for three-dimensional ultrafast-laser focus and beam shaping with significantly extended depth-of-focus (DoF), targeting next-generation industrial laser systems. By prescribing a desired axial intensity distribution and solving rigorous diffraction models, we engineer single-surface multi-level diffractive lenses (MDLs) that generate tailored 3D beam profiles.

These flat optics produce optical vortex needle beams and femtosecond laser foci with stable spot sizes over propagation distances exceeding 70 mm while maintaining ~90% diffraction efficiency. Experimental results at 1064 nm demonstrate DoF greater than 15 mm with ~32 µm full width at half-maximum spot sizes, substantially outperforming conventional refractive optics that exhibit rapid defocus.

In the second half, they connect these results to real-world deployment — where extended-DoF beam shaping creates value in laser marking, cutting, engraving, cleaning, welding, and additive manufacturing, and what it takes to translate flat-optic designs into scalable components. Murray and Menon conclude with a joint perspective on adoption of drivers, integration considerations, and emerging market opportunities for meta/flat optics in industrial laser processing.

About Rajesh Menon
Rajesh Menon, Ph.D., is a professor of electrical & computer engineering at the University of Utah, and the chief technology officer of Oblate Optics, a company commercializing his lab’s innovations in flat optics.

His research unites nanofabrication, computational design, and optics to pioneer advances in inverse-designed photonics, flat lenses, and unconventional imaging. He holds over 40 patents, has authored numerous peer-reviewed papers, and co-founded four technology companies translating his research to practice.

A Fellow of Optica and SPIE and a Member of the National Academy of Inventors, he has received the ICO Prize, NASA Early-Stage Innovations Award, the NSF CAREER Award, and the 2026 Distinguished Lectureship of the IEEE Photonics Society. Rajesh earned his doctorate from MIT, and collaborates widely with academia, industry and government agencies worldwide.

About Bill Murray
Bill Murray, Ph.D., joined Edmund Optics as the ultrafast laser optics product Line Manager in July 2022. In this role, he is responsible for both new product development and managing existing products for the laser optics business line. Bill obtained his doctorate in electrical engineering from The Pennsylvania State University in 2020.

During his graduate studies, he conducted research in ultrafast and nonlinear optics with instrumentation development focusing primarily on super-resolution spatio-temporal characterization of nano-materials. Prior to joining Edmund Optics, Bill worked at II-VI Aerospace & Defense (now Coherent) as a senior optical design engineer working on high energy laser (HEL) and directed energy (DE) systems.