Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and a device for forming the intensity profile of a laser beam, in particular for producing a homogeneous intensity profile. In an embodiment of the present invention, the laser beam can strike an optically addressable spatial light-modular (OASLM), whose local transmission or reflection properties depend in nonlinear fashion on the local illumination intensity.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to an optical system for coupling light from a light source into a medium, in particular into an optical fiber. The optical system has at least one light-deflecting surface, which directs the light by reflection or refraction into the medium. The form of the light-deflecting surface is such that the light source is not sharply imaged in the medium or on its surface. The optical system according to the present invention can advantageously be used for coupling light of a very high intensity into the medium without the risk of a too high, local luminous density producing non-linear optical effects or resulting in material damage.

Abstract: A method and a device are described to compensate for polarization mode dispersion in an optical transmission link(9, 9′) having polarization-dependent transmission characteristics, in particular in optical fibers and cables with not only statistical, but preferred birefringence. A compensation element (1, 1′, 1″), whose length is adjusted non-destructively using an interference device (2, 2′, 2″), in particular a pressure mechanism, is connected upstream or downstream from the transmission link (9, 9′). The polarization states PL and PS of the compensation element are mixed by the interference and thus the length of the compensation fiber is defined at which a propagation time difference between the partial waves of polarization states PL and PS is increased or decreased so that it compensates for the propagation time difference &tgr; within the transmission link (9, 9′).