Laser Beam Profilers

Coherent Laser Beam Profiler

Top hat or tails? Our laser beam analysers can profile your laser

As a laser beam propagates, changes in the laser cavity, as well as changes in the beam divergence and its interaction with optical elements, cause the width and spatial intensity of the beam to change. Spatial intensity distribution is a fundamental parameter for indicating how a laser beam will behave in any application. While theory can sometimes predict the behavior of a beam, tolerance ranges in mirrors and lenses, as well as ambient conditions affecting the laser cavity and beam delivery system all necessitate verification measurements. Coherent offers a complete family of beam profilers which can precisely measure the intensity distribution, beam size and propagation factor (M2) of almost any laser beam. We offer profiling instruments that can measure lasers with wavelengths from 190nm to 15µm with beam sizes from 3µm to 25mm.

Profile of a HeNe Laser as Measured Using a BeamView Analyser Laser Beam Profiler

Selecting Your Profiler

The table below summarises the main features of the Coherent range of laser beam profilers.

Model	Type	Interface	Wavelength Range	Laser Type
-	-		-	CW	Pulsed
BeamMaster	Scanning knife-edge	PCI Card	190-1800nm	•	-
BeamView - Analyser	CCD camera	PCI Card	190-2200nm	•	•
LaserCam HR	CMOS camera	USB 2.0	300-1100nm	•	•
LaserCam HR InGaAs	InGaAs camera	USB 2.0	900-1700nm	•	•
ModeMaster	M² propagation analyser	RS232	0.22-15µm	•	-

The BeamView™ Analyser and LaserCam HR™ profilers are based upon 2D CCD or CMOS imager array detectors ("cameras"). These profilers are ideal for fast 2D and 3D analysis of the intensity profile of pulsed and CW lasers. The pixel size on the camera sensor defines the measurement resolution, which is in the range from ~ 5 to 20µm.

The LaserCam HR™ InGaAs profiler is based upon an uncooled InGaAs focal plane array detector with 320 x 256 pixels.

The BeamMaster™ uses a moving knife edge detector that features a wide dynamic range and can accurately measure small and focused beams from CW lasers. The BeamMaster has a higher resolution that a camera-based profiler, ~ 0.1 to 1µm.

The ModeMaster™ is not a beam profiler as such, rather it is a beam propagation analyser. The ModeMaster established an entirely new laser beam quality parameter that is now an ISO standard. M2 is recognised as describing both how “close-to-perfect Gaussian” a beam is, and also how well the beam can be focused at its intended target.