D. Liu,  W. Perrie, L. Mellor, Z. Kuang, E. Fearon, S. P. Edwardson, G. Dearden, and K. G. Watkins

A beam shaping technique, which is capabl e of converting a Gaussian beam to an arbitrary 3D beam profil e through the impl ement ation of a phase-only Spatial Light Modul ator (SLM) combined with polarising optics, is present ed. A beam profiling camera provides visualisation of beam alterations, which allowed for control over beam shape and intensity distribution in real time. Various beam profil es can be created for di fferent applications. An investigation into the production of l aser induced periodic surface struct ures (LIPSS) with a square fl at-top beam shows pot ential improvement of LIPSS uni formity over a Gaussian beam. It is believed that the combination of accurat e beam shape and top-hat intensity allows uni form LIPSS production in a region of ~0.4mm along optical axis, which is well over the Rayleigh length. Benefits and limitations and of this technique are also discussed