Beam distortion of rotation double prisms with an arbitrary incident angle.

The distortion of beam shape in rotation Risley prisms is discussed in this paper. Using the ray-tracing method based on vector refraction theorem, a rigorous theoretical model of beam distortion with an arbitrary incident angle is established to explore the influencing factors. For a specified double-prism pair, the emergent beam is squeezed in one direction while stretched in the mutual perpendicular direction, the distortion of which is determined by the relative rotation angle. Moreover, the distortion of beam shape is greatly influenced by the wedge angles and the refractive indices of the prisms, as well as different double-prism configurations, while uncorrelated to the prism thickness and the distance between two prisms. This paper demonstrates the regular change of the beam shape with multiparameter variations in rotation double prisms, which can be applied to the design of rotation double-prism systems.