M2 meter as a part of closed-loop adaptive optical system for high-power laser beam correction

Here, we demonstrate how closed-loop adaptive optical system can be used to obtain a good focused beam. A bimorph mirror is used as a wavefront corrector. Closed-loop software analyses the focal spot that is measured by M2 meter and then calculates voltages to be applied to the mirror electrodes. This adaptive system can correct the low-order slow changing aberrations without any measurements of the wavefront. The optimal correction of the high-power beam aberrations can be found by the use of genetic and hill-climbing algorithms.