Laser beam despeckling devices

1. A multi-stage laser beam despeckling device comprising:

a first laser beam despeckling module for optically multiplexing an input laser beam into a temporal/spatial coherence-reduced output laser beam;

a second laser beam despeckling module, optically coupled to said first laser beam despeckling module, for receiving said temporal/spatial coherence-reduced output laser beam as an input laser beam to said second laser beam despeckling module and producing a further temporal/spatial coherence-reduced output laser beam; and

a multi-cylinder planarizing-type illumination lens array disposed in close proximity said said second laser beam despeckling module, for planarization of said further temporal/spatial coherence-reduced output laser beam.

2. The multi-stage laser beam despeckling device of claim 1 , which further comprises a laser beam source for producing said input laser beam.

3. A multi-stage laser beam despeckling device comprising:

a first optical stage for receiving an input laser beam;

a second optical stage, optically coupled to said first optical stage, and receiving said input laser beam from said first optical stage, and generating an output laser beam having substantially reduced coherence for producing images of objects on a digital image detector, with substantially reduced speckle-pattern noise power; and

a multi-cylinder planarizing-type illumination lens array disposed in close proximity said second optical stage, for planarization of said output laser beam having substantially reduced coherence.

4. The multi-stage laser beam despeckling device of claim 3 , which further comprises a laser beam source for producing said input laser beam.

5. A multi-stage laser beam despeckling device comprising:

a first optical stage for receiving an input laser beam;

a second optical stage, optically coupled to said first optical stage, and receiving said input laser beam from said first optical stage, and generating an output laser beam having substantially reduced coherence for producing images of objects on a digital image detector, with substantially reduced speckle-pattern noise power; and

wherein said first optical stage includes a three-sided prism, and said second optical stage includes a ½ wave retarder plate disposed between a pair of mirrors arranged to optically multiplex an input laser beam into a single temporal-coherence reduced output laser beam.

6. The multi-stage laser beam despeckling device of claim 5 , which further comprises a multi-cylinder planarizing-type illumination lens array disposed in close proximity with said second optical stage, for planarization of said single temporal-coherence reduced output laser beam.

7. The multi-stage laser beam despeckling device of claim 5 , which further comprises a laser beam source for producing said input laser beam.

8. A laser beam despeckling device comprising:

a polarization beam splitter arranged between a pair of prisms that forms an optical cube, and which supports orthogonally-arranged mirrors each bearing a ¼ wave retarder, so as to optically multiplex an input laser beam into a single temporal/spatial-coherence reduced output laser beam; and

a multi-cylinder planarizing-type illumination lens array for planarization of said single temporal/spatial coherence reduced output laser beam.

9. The laser beam despeckling device of claim 8 , which further comprises a laser beam source for producing said input laser beam.