Flat-top profile of an excimer-laser beam generated using beam-splitter gratings

We present a simple solution to the beam-shaping problem in which a wide, typically rectangular spatial distribution of an excimer-laser beam should be transformed into a flat-top distribution, a few millimeters wide in both directions. The set-up can be made practically lossless and it allows the energy density of the pulse to be increased by a factor of 50. The method finds use, e.g., in pulsed laser deposition, UV lithography and micro machining.