Beam Profiler FAQ’s

A: There is a Microsoft Windows XP update (KB925902) that causes an Illegal System DLL Relocation error with the Pyrocam III Control Console. Microsoft has released a hot fix for the problem with the RealTek Audio, and the fix also works for The Pyrocam III Control Console.
See: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935448/
and scroll down to "Method 3: Install update 935448 from the Microsoft Download Center". Click the "Download the 935448 package now" link and follow the instructions.


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A: This is a known ActiveX issue with Microsoft. You can occasionally get an error message stating, "The system DLL user32.dll was relocated in memory. The application will not run properly. The relocation occurred because the DLL C:\Windows\System32\Hhctrl.ocx occupied an address range reserved for Windows system DLLs. The vendor supplying the DLL should be contacted for a new DLL." There are two ways to get around this. First, you can just run the Setup.exe from the individual folders on the CD. Or second, you can click the below link and then click the Download button to download the WindowsXP-KB935448-x68-ENU.exe file. Run this to install the 935448 hot fix. You will not need to restart the computer. Then you can install the software from the Flash screen.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=74AD4188-3131-429C-8FCB-F7B3B0FD3D86&displaylang=en

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A: The latest releases of the Ophir-Spiricon software can be located at the address below.
http://www.ophiropt.com/laser-measurement-instruments/beam-profilers/services/software-download


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A: After numerous requests for re-calibration of M² systems, in 2008 Ophir-Spiricon started a recalibration program for its M² systems. This program allows the equipment to be sent back to the factory to be inspected, lubricated and re-calibrated. This enables customers to comply with their ISO regulations. Please click the below link to be directed to a section of our web site where you can request an RMA to return your equipment for re-calibration.
http://www.ophiropt.com/laser-measurement-instruments/customer-support/customer-support/rma-bp

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A: The Ophir-Spiricon software products that are compatible with Windows Vista and Windows 7 are outlined below. Also outlined below are the cameras and associated hardware that are compatible with Windows Vista and Windows 7 32 and 64 bit.

Product	Software Version	32 bit compatibility	64 bit compatibility
BeamGage (S, P, & E)	V 5.0	Yes	V 5.4*
ModeCheck	V 5.0	Yes	No
LBA-USB	V 4.83	Yes	V 4.88*
LBA-FW	V 4.83	Yes	V 4.91*
LBA-PC	V 4.18	Yes	V 4.26*
M2-200	V 4.58	Yes	V 4.61*
M2-200-FW	V 4.70	Yes	V 4.75*
Pyrocam III	V 1.89	Yes	V 1.93
BeamStar	V 1.52	Yes	No

*The software will install and function, but the camera may not unless there are updated 64 bit drivers also installed.

Product	32 bit compatibility	64 bit compatibility
GRAS20/SCOR20	Yes	No
SP620U/SP503U	Yes	Yes BeamGage only
Pyrocam III	Yes	BeamGage 5.4 and Pyrocam III Control Console 1.93
XEVA	Yes	No
LW11058/LW230	Yes LBA Pending BeamGage	Pending BeamGage only
Frame Grabber Cards	Yes	No
M2Motor Controller	Yes	No

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A:Ultracal is a method of calibrating the zero level of the A to D converter precisely to the zero level of the CCD or other type camera. Ultracal has a number of features that make it much more effective than standard background subtraction. Ultracal works as follows:

• All incoming laser radiation is blocked from the camera, allowing any ambient radiation which will enter the camera during measurement, to still impinge upon the camera. (However, ambient radiation should be minimized under all cases.)
• The A to D converter is then set to capture frames from the camera, and adjust the zero level of the A to D converter. The zero level of the converter is adjusted until it and the baseline of the camera are as close as possible to each other. However, the digitizer is set slightly lower than the zero of the camera so that all noise components from the camera are digitized. This is assured by raising the camera DC level until the digitizer does not report any zero counts, i.e., all negative going noise from the camera/digitizer combination is at least one positive count. Once this baseline level is set, the software accumulates and averages 64 frames so that a baseline is obtained that is essentially free of random noise, but contains any offset or shading from the camera.
• In all subsequent laser signal frames this baseline is subtracted pixel by pixel from the signal frame.
• A unique characteristic of Ultracal is its treatment of what we call negative numbers. Consider that a given pixel signal is exactly at the same level as the average background obtained from the 64 frames. When these two are subtracted from each other, the output magnitude will be zero. On the other hand, if a small positive noise spike occurs on a given pixel, of say, 2 counts higher than the average, then the output from that pixel will be a +2. The third case would be when noise drives the pixel signal lower than the average; for example, 3 counts less than the average. When the average is subtracted from this signal, the resultant is -3 counts. Spiricon holds a patent in which these negative 3 counts are retained in the memory subsequent to the A to D converter. In other acquisition systems negative numbers resulting from background subtraction are truncated to zero.
• By maintaining the use of both positive and negative noise counts for each pixel in the sensor, the negative signals can offset the positive signals, and thus the background averages much closer to zero. This enables much more accurate measurement of beam width and other beam characteristics.

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A: There is no NIST standard laser beam by which beam analyzer results can be compared and verified. Spiricon engineers, however, have generated mathematically derived beams, added mathematically derived random noise to the beam, and then performed various beam measurements. Since the original beam was mathematically derived, the accuracy of the beam measurements can be verified under realistic conditions.

• This process verifies the accuracy of the software, but does not do any verification of the accuracy of the camera/acquisition combination.
• Camera/acquisition system combination verification can be performed by making very accurate measurements of characteristics such as beam width vs. intensity on the camera to verify that the camera is linear. The beam can also be moved about the camera to make sure that it is uniform. This type of measurement must be verified by meticulous measurements.

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A: With extremely fast P6 computers the acquisition speed is now limited only by the camera. This is typically 30Hz in the U.S. with the RS-170 standard, and 25Hz in Europe with the CCIR standard.

• Pyroelectric cameras can acquire data with pulse repetition rates up to 1kHz, but output data at approximately 60Hz.
• Shutters enable CCD cameras to split out single pulses out of a pulse train up to 10kHz pulse repetition rate.

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A: The most reliable synchronization is to have the beam analyzer camera system trigger the laser. Then 100% synchronization is achieved.

• When triggering the laser is not possible, then the camera can sometimes be triggered from the laser. The LBA provides both Trigger In and Trigger Out functions.
• A very simple system is Ophir-Spiricon's Video Trigger, in which the camera is free running, and the software simply looks to see if a signal of a pre-determined minimum magnitude is present from a pulse. If it is, then that signal is acquired and displayed. If no signal is present, then that frame is discarded. This video trigger system achieves about 98% reliability.
• An optional optical accessory can also be used to synchronize with the pulsed source.

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A: Different measurements have different accuracy. The accuracy is also dependent upon the conditions of the signal coming into the camera. Ideal conditions consist of signal that nearly saturates the camera, and the 1/e² width covers about 50% of the pixels. In this case the error of most measurements is less than 1%, but no greater than 5%. When fewer pixels of the camera are covered by the beam, or when the beam intensity is reduced, measurement accuracy is compromised. However, Ophir-Spiricon's Ultracal system maintains excellent accuracy down to very few pixels and very low intensity. Refer to Ophir-Spiricon's published articles for specific details.

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A: The largest beam that can impinge directly on the camera depends on the size of the camera sensor.

• Ophir-Spiricon offers CCD camera types, i.e. 1/1.8" format, 1/2" format, and 35mm format. The 1/1.8" format cameras, such as the SP620U and GRAS 20 can image beams as large as 7.1mmW x 5.4mmH. The smaller camera format, such as the SP503U can image beams at 6.3mmWx4.7mmH.
• Beams can be measured in the infrared with the Pyrocam III
• Large format digital cameras are available for high resolution and large area such as the L11058 that can measure beams up to 20mmWx13.5mmH.
• For beams larger than those mentioned above, there are two techniques for measuring the beam.
• One is to use a beam expander in reverse to reduce the beam width by a known factor, so that it does fit onto the camera.
• The second method is to impinge the beam on a scattering reflecting surface, and then image that surface with a lens on the camera. In this case there is no limit to the size that the beam can be.

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A:The smallest beam depends on the pixel pitch in the camera.

• For 1/1.8" format cameras the pixel pitch is typically 4.4µm. At least 7 X 7 pixels should be illuminated on the camera. This means the beam should be at least 40µm to measure effectively.
• For focused spots in the range of 10µm, a microscope objective or a re-collimation and refocus with a long focal length lens can be used. Then resolution of the camera can be effectively magnified by about a factor of 10, so that resolution less than 1µm is obtained. Thus a focused spot beam could be as small as 7µm, and an effective measurement could still be made.

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A: The answer depends on what information is wanted from the beam width.

• The most representative measurement of a beam width in determining how the beam will propagate is the Second Moment measurement. However, the Second Moment measurement can have problems if there is diffraction in the beam before measurement, which puts a significant amount of energy in the wings. This energy may diverge faster than the rest of the beam, and if it is included in the measurement, it will give a beam width much wider than reality. However, an aperture can be used to limit the beam width measurement to energy inside these diffraction rings.
• A second very good measurement of beam width is the software equivalent knife-edge measurement. This measurement is less sensitive to diffraction in the wings of the beam, although it will give a beam width measurement which is weighted by energy out in the wings. It is less sensitive to noise.
• Sometimes the most important information is not the beam propagation characteristics, but how much energy is near the peak of the beam. In this case, a percent of peak beam width measurement would be more useful.

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A: A. The largest laser beam we have measured has been 3 meters. This was done with the addition of a cctv lens and then a spatial calibration to give the equivalent pixel size with the lens at the distance we observed the laser. We achieved this by imaging a target that the laser fell upon. The target was in motion slightly to eliminate any speckle. Most applications the beams are less the 10mm, these can be accommodated by large array cameras and attenuation. When a beam gets larger say up to 25mm a reducing telescope can be used to bring it down to size to fit on the array. Our largest array currently is 26x39mm and has a USB interface

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A: On the profiling side it depends on the camera you are using. A standard CCD imager can look at profiles down in the Nanowatts.

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A: The camera works as an integrating device and thus can measure a profile of pulses down to the femtosecond range. In slowly pulsed systems it is always advisable to use a trigger into the camera to synchronize pulses.

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A: Try using the back side USB ports. They are generally connected directly to the PC motherboard and work better, whereas front side USB ports are connected through extension cables and may be subject to signal loss interference.

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A: Fortunately all of the latest beam profiler software are available from the web site at; http://www.ophiropt.com/laser-measurement-instruments/beam-profilers/services/software-download You do need to fill out a short form and then you're welcome to download any of the software packages. Be sure to identify the correct package for your beam profiling system. Note; The Photon Scanning Slit Profiler software is also posted here along with the latest version of legacy beam profiling products.

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A: A computer is required. The prices mentioned above do not include a computer. The computer required is an IBM compatible PC. The 2 GHz dual core processor style is recommended with as much as 2G of RAM and a 256MB graphics card. Less processor speed and memory will reduce the update rate of high resolution camera based beam profilers.

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A: Cameras are typically included with the LBA, BG or BS systems. Replacement cameras can be purchased separately.

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A: The Spiricon BeamGage and LBA systems as well as the Ophir BeamStar beam profiling systems come with a camera included. Additional or replacement cameras are available as are software upgrades. It is no longer possible to use your own camera with these advanced laser beam analyzer systems.

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A: The wavelength response depends primarily on the camera used, but also on the optics used for beam sampling.

• CCD cameras can see 266nm to 1.3µm
• Our Pyrocam III cameras can see 190nm to >1000µm
• InGaAs cameras are available for the 900 - 1,700nm wavelength region.

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A: Yes. BeamGage, LBA, and BeamStar support USB and Firewire cameras that interface to desktop as well as laptop computers. PCMCIA cards are provided with Firewire camera based systems to supply high performance Firewire ports for laptop users.

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A: The new BeamGage application permits users to add additional calculations and computed results. These results are displayed on the screen, logged, and printed just as the standard calculations that are included with the application. Pass/Fail criteria may also be constructed with theses user defined computations.

Data files from BeamGage are available in HDF5 format which is an open source format compatible with tools like MatLab. LBA data can be exported in a number of formats such as ASCII, so that the data can be loaded into other programs for additional processing.

An ActiveX server provides LBA data, results, and beam image to another Windows application. You can also tell the LBA to Start, Stop, Calibrate and load a configuration via ActiveX. The ActiveX server works locally or over a network. Examples are provided with LBA for LabView, Excel and Visual Basic.

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A: No. The BeamGage, LBA, and BeamStar beam profiling applications are designed specifically to use our own cameras that have been licensed to the application. Please inform your Ophir-Spiricon Sales Engineer if you require multiple application compatibility when purchasing a camera based beam profiling system.

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A: No. However, all files from Spiricon's earlier beam analyzers, including the LBA-100A, can be imported into the LBA system and BeamGage will import archived LBA data.

Since BeamGage supports the open source format, HDF5, so it can also import HDF5 files from other applications.

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A: Most items are available off-the-shelf. Some specialized CCD cameras are ordered as required, and may have 4-8 week delivery.

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A: Yes, it is possible to print the sales literature page by page from our web site at www.ophir-spiricon.com by using your web browser's print function. The complete catalog is also available as either an electronic or printed, hard copy.

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A: Yes, our beam profiling and power/energy measurement systems, once installed in a computer becomes a LabView virtual instrument, and can be controlled by a remote computer, or via ActiveX.

An ActiveX server provides beam profile, laser power/energy data, computational results, and beam image. You can also tell the application to Start, Stop, Calibrate and load a configuration via ActiveX. The ActiveX server works locally or over a network. Examples are provided to quickly get you up and running.

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A: There are no current plans for making a higher resolution Pyrocam.

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A: M² measurements are supported with the M²-200, and M²-200s. These automated instruments measure M² automatically for R&D and Production environments. We also offer M² accessory software to manually analyze the M² of a laser system.

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A: 10, 12 and 14 bit systems are useful with new, low noise digital cameras. These are especially useful for viewing and measuring low level beam structure.

10, 12 or 14 bits provide better signal-to-noise ratios. This is especially useful when there is significant low level structure in the wings of a laser beam. 8 bit cameras benefit when summing or averaging is required to bring the signal out of noise. 10, 12 or 14 bit digitizers divide the noise into finer increments for a better definition of the systems noise content thus offering a more accurate analysis of the performance of the laser under test.

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A: No. The LBA-100A is no longer provided. A trade-in allowance is provided for users who wish to trade-in an LBA-100A towards an LBA, BeamStar, or BeamGage system.

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A: Currently USB and Firewire cameras that interface to BeamGage include; SP503, SP620, GRAS20, SCOR20, Pyrocam III pyroelectric camera for UV and Far IR operation, and L11058 Large Format CCD as well as the FX50 and FX33 firewire CCD cameras.

These cameras must be licensed by Ophir-Spiricon for the beam analysis application that is intended to be used. Cameras may be licensed to multiple beam profiling programs.

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A: Ophir-Spiricon's Ultracal system that provides precise camera baseline settings to enable very high precise beam measurements. BeamGage and LBA utilize UltraCal to assure accurate spatial analysis including beam widths, power/energy density calculations and divergence angle measurements.

Ophir-Spiricon's commitment to innovation and improvement never sleeps. With the introduction of BeamGage, Ophir-Spiricon has again shown our ability to offer the most technically advanced laser test and measurement products to the laser industry.

Ophir-Spiricon's beam profilers offer the industry's highest resolution capability, with up to 1600 X 1200 pixels and a system dynamic range of up to 64db.

Ophir-Spiricon is famous for our total dedication to customer service. Just give us try, see for yourself.

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A: For more details please contact Ophir-Spiricon LLC :

60 West 1000 North	sales@ophir-spiricon.com	Toll Free No.: 1-800-383-0814
Logan, UT 84321	www.ophir-spiricon.com	Tel:  + (435) - 753 3729
USA		Fax: + (435) - 753 5231

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A:Laser Beam Profile
First let us start by describing what a Laser Beam Profile is. Typically you want to find out the intensity distribution of your laser beam so that you can make adjustments to your setup or laser to give you the best beam possible delivered to your work piece or experiment. By doing this you will reduce downtime and scrap. There are several types of profiling equipment on the market. More can be learned from our whitepapers on this subject at www.ophiropt.com/photonics. Here are a few examples of power spatial distribution from lasers.

Laser Beam Analysis
Laser Beam Analysis systems usually are a complete system where a Sales engineer meets with the customer and evaluates the needs of the customer based on their application. The system will then consist of all attenuation, sensor technology, and software that are needed to meet the customer’s requirements. This could also be considered a complete package. The BeamCube pictured below is an example of a fully integrated Laser Beam Analysis system.
This system will take Beam Profile measurements, Temporal (Pulse Shape) measurements and Power measurements all at the same time. Each of these measurements can have a large effect on the processes you are using a laser for. Some applications require that you have a precise energy density for making the process work. Welding is an example of such an application. If the energy density is to low then the weld will not hold up. If the energy density is to high then you will blow through your weld. Temporal measurement of pulse shape can also be important in maintaining a process as some new lasers allow you to change the pulse shape of a laser for various applications. Then beam profile is usually important in most instances depending on the tolerance of your application.
You may ask yourself what power ranges can be measured with Laser Beam Analysis equipment. There are solutions to measure lasers from nanowatts to kilowatts, and pulse widths from femtosecond to continuous wave (CW).
Focal-Spot-Analyzer A Focal-Spot-Analyzer is a specific system containing a sensor (Camera/Scanning Slit) device based upon the beam size to look at the location and spot size of a focused spot. Cameras are an excellent solution if you would like to measure beams larger than 50 microns. Scanning slit technology lends itself to measuring small spots down to 6 microns and also the location of the exact focused spot.

Each of the above devices can be used for measuring focused spot. The camera based system requires attenuation and thus will give you excellent results for 2d/3d and measurement of beams, but if you want to measure the exact location of your focused spot the NanoScan is the preferred device. The NanoScan is the industry standard for locating the exact focused spot. The reason is that for most applications the NanoScan does not require attenuation, so the mechanical tolerances can be measured to a high degree. We offer both of these options since there are many different types of lasers out there that need to be measured at focus. With low pulse rate lasers the camera is the best solution as the scanning slit requires laser repetition rates in excess of 1khz. If you have further questions please feel free to contact us at. Sales@Ophir-Spiricon.com

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A: BeamGage has the most extensive set of ISO and non-IS0 beam diagnostics computations assembled in a beam profiling tool.

BeamGage is the first fully scalable beam analysis system. Any number of cameras can be viewed/analyzed/controlled from any number of networked machines, simultaneously. This gives the user the ability leverage large amounts of hardware power (RAM, CPU, storage, and networks) to solve more complex video analysis problems. It has even been optimized to allow local-machine analysis clients to run uninhibited by slower, cross-network clients.

BeamGage is the first system to implement true multi-client functionality. This allows the user to launch any number of analyzers that subscribe to a single camera source and partition the detector data for area of interest based analysis. In other words, you can analyze any number of spatially-separated beams on the same detector or compute different results on overlapping regions.

BeamGage is the first beam profile analysis system to allow users to analyze mathematically generated beam profiles in the same way they would analyze real beam profiles. With BeamMaker you can create synthetic profiles in virtually any camera frame format. Simulating not only width; height; 8, 10, 12, 14, 16… bit digitizers; but many other features like modal content, noise, and background effects. This opens up many reference beam processing options never available before.

BeamGage is the first beam analysis system to fully address the problem of application complexity. It can be configured by the factory or the end-user to scale its complexity up or down, showing only the controls required by the user and hiding un-needed complexity.

BeamGage is the first beam analysis system allowing the user to fully exploit their accelerated graphics card and render rich 3D visualizations of the beam in full camera resolution.

BeamGage is the first beam analysis system to combine the accuracy of Ultracal^TM – Ophir-Spiricon's patented baseline correction algorithm that helped establish the ISO 11146-3 standard for beam measurement accuracy – with the simplicity of AutoX – an adaptive mode that automatically adjusts exposure, gain, and black level, simplifying optical system setup and alignment.

BeamGage is the first full-featured beam analysis system to allow synchronized external power meter calibrations.

BeamGage also supports custom computational packages. Said another way, we do the work of capturing video data and computing any enabled results. BeamGage passes those results and video data to end-user defined routines (which are simple to create); we then take the values returned from end-user defined routines and do the work of displaying, keeping statistics, checking pass/fail, buffering, saving, logging, and printing. This feature provides a simple solution to users who have problems that fall outside of the “typical” beam analysis domain.

BeamGage is the first beam analysis system to output data in HDF5 format, an open source format compatible with tools like MatLab.

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A: In terms of breakthroughs, there are many hidden in the software architecture, but they are exciting only for the ardent software geek. The remaining beam analysis breakthroughs have mostly been functional.

It took years for the total vision of BeamGage to emerge. The system is the result of lessons learned from several predecessor systems. The constant need to interface new camera technology with different types of analysis tools, forced us to realize that analyzers and sources must be able to evolve independently of one another and on top of a solid video transport backbone. The BeamGage effort was all about creating the “Next Generation Profiler” (and sneaking a much-needed video transport backbone passed the bean counters, don’t tell anyone!).

The first real breakthrough was recognizing the need for a beam analysis system that was self validating. The system would validate against theoretical beams and adhere tightly to the ISO specification.

Second was the realization that data sources (cameras, files, and synthetic beams) should be treated by the analyzer in a symmetric fashion, the analyzer not knowing how to distinguish between them. In other words, the data sources are interchangeable and the analyzers compute results on theoretical beams and real beams in the exact same way.

Third was the realization that sources should be location transparent. In other words, the location on the network where video data is collected should be independent (or transparent) of the location where data is analyzed.

Forth was the realization that computer processors are not going to scale up in clock cycle speed as quickly as they will begin to scale up in number of CPUs per chip. A modern video analysis system should be designed to take advantage of multiples CPU cores. BeamGage has done this!

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A: Multi-machine, multi-camera users can use BeamGage to throw enough hardware at a problem to get the job done. This is one of the market “sectors” that has not been addressed by previous beam analysis systems. Laser manufactures, government agencies, and large corporations should love this feature as it will support the notion of networking to centralize control rooms and automation systems that make use of BeamGage's new (and replete) automation interface. The custom computational package feature described above should target many new niche markets. Many scientists process video data or compute new results from the information provided by beam analysis systems. They don't want to invest in a massive amount of effort interfacing cameras and writing complicated user interfaces. BeamGage has made it easy for them to do their custom computations but still use all the facilities of BeamGage to manage those results. We are really hoping this “round hole” can accommodate more of the disenfranchised “square pegs” out there.

BeamGage will be a big plus to users that want to sample optical paths in more than one location simultaneously.

Those that align two or more beams or an array of fibers will greatly benefit from partitioning features.

All users will enjoy the rich 2D/3D beam rendering and expanded computation, pass/fail, and statistics features.

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A: Going forward, Ophir-Spiricon will be able to add new video analysis applications on top of the existing video backbone, allowing instant use of all camera technologies wired to the backbone. Any new cameras added to the system will immediately be available to all analyzers built on the backbone. This capability will lower the development and maintenance costs of analyzers and cameras, and open the door for more innovation on the analysis side of that backbone.

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A: BeamGage is the top of the line profiler product. It will allow users to synchronize external Ophir power meters and provide live calibration. Eventually, the other software products will be rewritten to use the same video backbone.

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A: The last feature is the new Ribbon Tab Motif. BeamGage allows the user to configure the layout of the user interface (UI) a limitless number of ways. With all the other scalability features mentioned above, it is easy to forget that BeamGage's UI was built to scale across multiple monitors. All windows of the application can be docked inside a parent window or broken out of the parent to reside in any multi-monitor real-estate. But we did not forget the "monitorally challenged." The new window layout system works better than ever on small monitors.

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A: BeamGage is the industry's first beam profiling software to be newly designed, from scratch, using the most advanced tools and technologies. It took years for the total vision to emerge. BeamGage is the result of lessons learned from several predecessor systems. The constant need to interface new camera technology with different types of analysis tools forced us to realize that beam analysis software and sources must be able to evolve independent of one another and on top of a solid video transport backbone. The BeamGage effort was ALL about creating the "next generation laser beam profiler."

The first real breakthrough was recognizing the need for a beam analysis system that was self validating. (A method for users that need to know the difference between theoretical accuracy and measured accuracy; specifically, for anyone needing to validate measurements like laser manufacturers and regulatory users.) BeamGage needed to validate against theoretical beams and also adhere tightly to the ISO specification.

BeamGage includes an innovative utility, BeamMaker, which permits BeamGage to mathematically analyze synthetically generated beam profiles in the same way it would analyze real beam profiles. With BeamMaker, you can create synthetic profiles in virtually any camera frame format. Simulations can be done of width, height, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16... bit digitizers, as well as many other features like modal content, and noise and background effects. This opens up many reference beam processing options never available in the industry. Now a user can know the exact theoretically expected measurement, system induced error, and the difference between the theoretical and actual measurement.

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A: BeamGage uses industry standard Microsoft Windows technology and is fully compatible with most desktop or laptop PC's. Laser beam images are brought into the PC using a camera with a standard USB or Firewire interface.

BeamGage is the first fully scalable beam analysis system. Any number of cameras can be viewed/analyzed/controlled from any number of networked machines, simultaneously. This gives the user the ability leverage large amounts of hardware power (RAM, CPU, storage and networks) to solve more complex video analysis problems. It has even been optimized to allow local-machine analysis clients to run uninhibited by the slower cross-network clients.

BeamGage is the first system to implement true multi-client functionality. This allows the user to launch any number of analyzers that subscribe to a single camera source and partition the detector data for area of interest based analysis. In other words, you can analyze any number of spatially-separated beams on the same detector or compute different results on overlapping regions.

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A: One of the advantages for building software products on Microsoft technology is long-term viability, support, and user acceptance. Therefore, BeamGage is not likely to become obsolete in the near future. It should have a life of at least 8-10years.

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A: We expect BeamGage to open several very important doors that were not available until this product.

1. Laser manufacturers knowledge for future laser advancements. With BeamMaker, the user can synthetically generate theoretical beam conditions to learn what can be accomplished versus what is being accomplished.
2. Beam analysis can now be performed on multiple beams at one time. This serves the communication industry using multiple fiber bundles and also the high temperature, high energy research community doing multiple laser based fusion experiments.
3. Data distribution via the Internet BeamGage is location independent. Now a user no longer has to be in the same location as the experiment. Both the data collection and the data handling can be remote and managed using browser technology.
4. Academic research advancements BeamGage also supports custom computational packages. Users can now easily input their own algorithmic packages into BeamGage for custom computations.

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A: BeamGage is the first ground-up beam profiling development in 10 years. A complete rewrite, it has: a) capitalized on the latest technology advancements including client/server, Internet, and Windows tools advancements, and b) taken all the lessons learned from beam profiling users and extended proven ISO techniques to support all the new ways the laser manufacturers and user communities are innovating with lasers.

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A: A trademark has been received.

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A: Yes, depending on the camera. If it's USB or FireWire, it will only require a license key that may or may not need to be purchased depending on when you ordered the camera. The only USB cameras that will not work with BeamGage are the rare LBA-USB-L230, L130, or L070 cameras. If you camera uses a frame grabber card it will not work with BeamGage. BeamGage will not support the legacy frame grabber cards.

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A: Yes, you will still be able to use your FireWire or USB Ophir-Spiricon camera with the latest version of LBA and BeamStar after upgrading to BeamGage.

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A: BeamGage Standard runs on .NET 3.5, so you need to make sure you have installed .NET 3.5 along with Service Pack 1 and any other updates that are available prior to installing BeamGage Standard.

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A: To run your camera under BeamGage Standard it must be licensed. To license your camera, you need to contact our Service Department with the model number and serial number of the camera to check to see if you are eligible for a free upgrade license.

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A: Yes, BeamGage works with Windows 7 32 bit.

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A: BeamGage-Enterprise version, tentatively scheduled to be released July 2010, will run on Windows 7-64bit.

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A: Yes.

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A: Basic Automation Capability will be supported in BeamGage-Professional, not BeamGage-Standard, which is scheduled to be released Q1 2010.

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A:

• I typically compartmentalize the codes in Labview so that I can easily sequence/coordinate different blocks for different instruments. I noticed that one user brought up the question of closing the .NET references. I have the same question basically. I have had problems with ActiveX and LBA moving from different subVIs within one large main VI without closing the references/event queues, I'm wondering if I'll have similar problems here. This is not a critical problem and can easily be fixed on my end.
• I notice that it's possible to read the pixel data from BeamGage without a new frame triggering. This was not the case in LBA. In other words, Labview could only read data when the camera was triggered and a new frame appeared in LBA. If you loaded a new data file and tried to read the datasets post process LBA couldn't do it (as far as I know). It seems like you guys addressed this. I can now save a file to disk in the bgData format and load that same file and read the pixel data post process. For me, this is by far the most useful upgrade from LBA. But, it would be nice to be able to get the pixel data straight from the HDF5 files in Labview without going through BG. I don't know if you can help me with this. Labview doesn't seem to have much HDF5 support available. I think it's possible, I'm just not sure where to start.

Besides that, I'm ecstatic. This is very useful, well documented, and for the most part comprehensive. You've addressed all the issues I had with LBA.

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A: Set your camera to capture at 30Hz if it has a frame format that supports 30Hz:



Select an attached power meter or use the manual calibration tool if power calibration is required. If calibration is required counts will turn to an actual power reading for the total frame power or energy:



You said you need an average so I will assume "Total" is the item you are averaging. It could be any results just enable the one(s) you need:



You need to average 100 shots at 30Hz each hour so you will need to use the Burst Capture feature. The controls below (as currently set) will capture 100 frames every hour in results priority mode (what you need for this requirement).



Provide a log file name here:



Set frame averaging to 100 because you want to average the frames collected. This will produce results that are an average of 100 samples.



Set logging to continuous as you will stop it manually after 30 days.



You could also do the math (Days x Logs Per Day = Total logs or 30x24=720) and figure out how many samples a 30 day log would produce at this rate and place this number in the box below in place of the 1 you see now. Then click on the "Folder/Play-Button" icon to the right of the spin buttons to enable "Stop after X Logs"



When you are ready to start logging, make sure the data source is running and click on the top middle icon you see here, which is the results logging button (has the 1.2 in the icon):



When you are running and click the "Log Results" button the logging to disk will begin.

2D and 3D images (Pro release to introduce image logging) can also be logged by enabling the required image file types here:



Use Excel to import the data from the log file with comma delimiting and you will see the following type of log: This log of total frame counts was made using burst capture of 100 frames every 5 seconds.

Tip: When you setup a log in this way you will only see the frames that are logged appear in the BeamGage beam displays. If you are logging one sample an hour you will not see a lot of activity in the beam display windows. Not to worry, you have the power of Multi-Clienting at your finger tips so you can minimize this instance of BeamGage and let it go on logging in the background (maximize it again when you want to see the last frames logged). Now, launch a new instance of BeamGage and connect to the same camera. Because the camera is set at 30Hz you will see a 30Hz video feed in the second instance of BeamGage. This will allow you to monitor in real-time while you are logging in slow-time.

Behold, the power of subscription rate when combined with logging and multi-clienting.







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A: If BeamGage does not recognize your camera immediately after the installation, reboot the computer.

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A: BeamGage Professional and all other versions of BeamGage can be ran on the same computer all installed at the same time. We do it all the time in the Service and Sales Departments. You just need to make sure you are running the same revisions of BeamGage. Since they are available free from the web site you can easily upgrade all versions of BeamGage to the most current.

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A: The ability to export ASCII data from BeamGage was recently added in the newest version 5.3. You can download it by following the link below. We also added the ability to export data in a number of different image formats. http://www.ophir-spiricon.com/laser-measurement-instruments/beam-profilers/services/software-download
Exporting ASCII or Image Data from BeamGage can be done by doing the following:

1. Open BeamGage and select your Data Source from the Source ribbon bar.
2. Click on the Logging ribbon bar and select the data you want to export from the Data section. Hint: the ASCII data is the icon that looks like a folder with the letters abcd on it.
3. If you want to export images select the image formats from either the 2D Image or 3D Image section.
4. In the Logging Controls section select how you would like to log the data as well as logging the data if you are using pass fail criteria.
5. In the File Set section click on black down arrow in the white box and select Browse to browse to where you would like to export the data to.
6. Give it a name and click Save. This name will now show up in the white drop down list.
7. To the right of this box is an icon that looks like a black exclamation mark inside of a yellow triangle over the top of a folder. Click this to turn on the Logging function.
8. When you click the BeamGage Start button that looks like a blue circle with the play symbol in it will start logging data.

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A: Power measurement made in dB are ratios. The equation is 10 log(P1/P2) We can make a P1 measurement or a P2 measurement, but not both at the same time. Since you haven't provided more application details I will add further comment in hopes that I can touch on pertinent points.

Beam analyzers are not precision instruments for making power measurements, that's why they can't replace power meters, a good thing! BG-LBA-BeamStar can all be calibrated to some value obtained from an external power meter. And can reasonably track power changes within a range of about 100:1, or 20dB.

With fiber optic cables and connectors, signal losses are usually expressed in terms of dB. With a cable it will be in units of dB per meter or km depending upon how lossy the cable. With connectors these are often expressed as insertion loss and/or back reflection loss.

There is another type of power measurement that can be made, dBm. In this case the measurement is made relative to a fixed power level. This is very common in sound measurement where an industry standard has been well defined. I am not aware of a similar standard for optical power measurement but that doesn't mean there isn't one. In this case P2 is fixed to a specified level, and the read value is compared to it. Audio sound level meters read out in +/- dBm.

In all cases the best way to make this type of measurement is with a power meter. In particular a photo-diode (PD) style, fitted with a fiber optic coupler. Our PD detectors have a very large dynamic range and are accurate over the entire range, about 90dB. A camera has a very limited dynamic range, only about 20dB.

If the client wants to make a measurement using a camera and the range of interest is within 20dB then they can make the two measurements P1 and P2 and compute the ratio in dB using the equation shown above. If they want to automate this they can use our soon to be released automation interface, extract the power readings at the appropriate times, and compute the results in Excel or MatLab.

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A: Since its introduction mid-2009 there have been a several update releases of BeamGage. For someone that was an early adaptor we highly recommend you go to our web site and download the latest version; its FREE! Not only will you be getting a version that has several new features but, and more importantly, we have taken many of the issues reported by our customers through our customer service group and the Microsoft error report process and fixed them in subsequent updates.

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A: The Pyrocam III currently requires a Legacy driver for operation in Windows 7. We are in the process of upgrading its driver to be Plug and Play compatible with Windows 7. Until then please contact our Service Department for step by step instructions for getting the Pyrocam III to be recognize in Windows 7.

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A: In some instances on laptops with integrated webcams, the integrated webcam drivers may be supplanting themselves in place of the Ophir-Spiricon driver, so the only way to overcome the driver mismatch and to provide support for the Ophir-Spiricon provided camera is to disable the integrated webcam in BIOS and remove the associated integrated webcam software.

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A: Windows 7 contains a new set of 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller drivers. For some unknown reason these drivers will not communicate with the Pyrocam III. When the Pyrocam III is plugged into a Windows 7 computer nothing happens. No indication can be found that the Pyrocam III is plugged into the computer. The problem lies with the new OHCI Compliant Host Controller driver.

The solution is to replace the default "Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller" with the "1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (Legacy)".

To replace the default Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller:

• Open up Control Panel. Switch the View by in the upper right corner to Large Icons. Click on Device Manager.
• Click the arrow next to "IEEE 1394 Bus host controllers".
• Right-click on the 1394 port you wish to "fix", select Update Driver…
• The Hardware Update Wizard is displayed. Select "Browse my computer for driver software" .
• Select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer".
• Select "1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (Legacy)". Click the Next> button.
• When the Microsoft driver is installed, click the Close button.
• You should now see the Pyrocam III listed under Imaging devices.

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A: Click on the Beam Display tab and in the Color Section click on the Z Scale drop down list. Then click on and hold your mouse button down on the top number. Now slide the number down to the level just above the color your beam was getting to. This will compress the color scale to cover the intensity level from your camera.

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A: Yes you can. Go to Logging and select whether you want to log Continuously, by number of Frames, or by some duration of Time. The data will be saved in an Excel Friendly format. Now, take the data and you can have Excel load these files for your analysis.

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A: There are two possible solutions:

• Roll back from Adobe Reader X to Adobe Reader 9. Since eventually you will need to update Adobe Reader 9 to a later edition we do not recommend this as the preferred solution.
• The cause of the problem has been traced to a new security feature in Reader X. As of this writing Adobe has not recognized that this addition has caused a problem with linked bookmarks. As a result they have not offered a better solution than the one that we have figured out on our own. To enable What's This help to operate correctly make the following change to the Properties section in Adobe Reader X:
  • Open Adobe Reader X
  • On the Menu bar click on Edit
  • Click on Preferences…
  • In the Categories list click on General
  • Uncheck the Enable Protected Mode at startup item, and answer Yes
  • Click OK

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A: On some computers the Pyrocam III does not register properly and Windows tries to use the wrong driver. This creates a problem in the Windows Device Manager and keeps the Pyrocam III from showing up in BeamGage. To fix this do the following: Enter the Windows Device Manager and locate the Pyrocam III with the Yellow Triangle next to it. Right click on the Pyrocam III and select Uninstall. Click on the computer name at the top of the Device Manager tree. Click on Action then Scan for hardware changes. The Pyrocam III will show up again, but without the Yellow Triangle. Now when you start BeamGage it will show up.

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A: Note; this answer applies to new Pyrocam III's that are shipped with BeamGage software or have been upgraded to work with BeamGage software. If a Pyrocam III is not licensed to work with BeamGage software, then the license needs to purchased and the Pyrocam III will need to be upgraded first.

The Pyrocam III uses the 1394a 400MBS protocol, but will operate as a 1394b 800MBS interface card, however it will revert still to the 1394a 400MBS protocol.

The Pyrocam III with BeamGage also uses a separately installed device driver which may not install and operate correctly at first.

Note for Windows 7. Windows 7 contains a new set of 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller drivers that will not communicate with the Pyrocam III. When the Pyrocam III is plugged into a Windows 7 computer nothing happens. No indication can be found that the Pyrocam III is plugged into the computer. The problem lies with the new OHCI Compliant Host Controller driver.

The solution is to replace the default "Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller" with the "1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (Legacy)".

To replace the default Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller:

• Open up Control Panel. Switch the View by in the upper right corner to Large Icons. Click on Device Manager.
• Click the arrow next to "IEEE 1394 Bus host controllers".
• Right-click on the 1394 port you wish to "fix", select Update Driver…
• The Hardware Update Wizard is displayed. Select "Browse my computer for driver software" .
• Select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer".
• Select "1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (Legacy)". Click the Next> button.
• When the Microsoft driver is installed, click the Close button.

The Pyrocam III Camera Driver Installation version 1.0 is available from our web address; http://www.ophiropt.com/laser-measurement-instruments/beam-profilers/services/software-download

We recommend that you right mouse click on the Setup.exe and "Run as Administrator".

If the Pyrocam III Camera Driver Installation version 1.0 doesn't work to install the Pyrocam3Wdf.sys driver properly, you may have to do the following;

Go to the Device Manager and with the Pyrocam III connected you should see it (probably) listed under Imaging Devices with a yellow exclamation error mark. Right click on it and select Update Driver Software…

Do not install automatically. Do install from a list. Do not search, but do install from a specific location.

Select Browse my computer for driver software and then select Browse to C:\Program Files\Spiricon\PyrocamKMDF\ and it will install the correct driver from there.

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A: You also must install the FireWire Camera Driver Installer version 2.0.2.11x available from our web address; http://www.ophiropt.com/laser-measurement-instruments/beam-profilers/services/software-download

We recommend that you right mouse click on the Setup.exe and "Run as Administrator".

If the FireWire Camera Driver Installer version 2.0.2.11x doesn't work to install the driver properly, you may have to do the following;

Go to the Device Manager and with the GRAS20 connected you should see it (probably) listed with a yellow exclamation error mark. Right click on it and select Update Driver Software…

Do not install automatically. Do install from a list. Do not search, but do install from a specific location. Select Browse my computer for driver software and then select Browse to C:\Program Files\Spiricon\PGR\ and it will install the correct driver from there.

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A: The first and most common of these have to do with the operator entering the wrong wavelength value. In this case the results are often well below 1, in the .8-.9 range. The second most common cause for results <1 is due to nominal accuracy tolerances. These are normal and expected. With a 5% M² tolerance results from ~.95 to ~1.05 are very possible. Averaging runs will normally return a mean value to something > than 1, but not always.
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A: Before allowing laser energy to enter the instrument, it is important to limit the beam intensity. Excessive laser energy may cause damage to the camera or the internal components of the M² optical train.

Typically, a CCD camera imager can be damaged at energy levels in excess of 1 mJ/cm² or at power levels greater than .15 mW/cm². Adjust these input limits downward based on the likely focused spot size resulting from your M² lens focal length. Beam splitters and/or filters may be used to attenuate the beam, but care must be used to prevent the introduction of distortions.

During an M2 measurement operation, the peak energy density that reaches the camera will change, potentially over several orders of magnitude. This is a result of the camera effectively moving from a larger unfocused spot near the lens, into and through the focus at the waist, and then out again to an unfocused spot (see Figure 21 on page 96). The optical train will automatically adjust to accommodate these changes in beam intensity, so long as you, the operator, have prudently selected the initial beam intensity. Thus, it is your responsibility to attenuate the laser sufficiently to operate within the safe dynamic range of the M²-200/200s system.
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A: Ophir-Spiricon LLC would like to thank its customers for the support of our long standing product the M2-200. In an effort to deliver state-of-the-art and high performance products we have decided to discontinue the M2-200 (Long Train) product. We have replaced it with the M2-200S (Short Train) product which offers faster M2 results in a more compact package. In an effort to allow customers to put in a last order for the M2-200 (Long Train) products we will continue to accept orders until July 1st, 2011. Our M2-200S product will continue to be available after that time.

The M2-200 will continue to be supported for repairs and calibrations through our customer service department. customerservice@us.ophiropt.com
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A: Camera Defects Policy
Ophir-Spiricon, LLC (OSL) is a supplier of laser beam analysis tools that employ commercial-industrial solid-state cameras. OSL attempts to supply cameras with as few pixel defects as possible. OSL tests for and corrects defective pixels that may have an adverse effect when used for its intended purpose. OSL does not guarantee that a supplied camera will be defect free, or that they will remain defect free during its normal lifetime and under normal use.

It is not uncommon for modern megapixel camera imagers to develop point defects as they age, even when not subjected to abuse. Imagers without windows often experience point defects at rates typically greater than imagers with their cover glass left in place. Point defects can also appear more frequently when operating at higher rather than lower ambient temperatures, and higher relative humidity. Such defects can occur even when the camera is in storage and not being used.

Cameras supplied by OSL will be certified for use in laser beam analyzer applications. When defects occur, the ability to make certain measurements under certain conditions may be compromised. However, depending upon the nature of the defect, most measurement can still be performed without loss of accuracy. In some instances the effects of defects can be eliminated or significantly reduced by adjusting the manner in which the camera is being employed.

Ophir-Spiricon, LLC offers a camera recertification service. This service can help to extend the useful life of your camera and correct some point defects that may show up over time. This service can not correct cameras with serious laser damage or imager degradation. Whenever possible OSL will restore the camera to our "as new" level of certification; and if not possible, we will indicate to the user how to avoid areas of the imager that may not perform to "as new" standards.

Defects, Solutions and Workarounds
The following list contains examples of typical camera point defects that may occur over time, and suggested methods of compensating for them if they are troublesome:

Defect type	Description of the Problem	Recommended Solution See Note 1 below
Bright Pixel	Pixels with this defect will indicate being illuminated even when no signal is present. These are the most troublesome when attempting to make accurate peak fluence and peak fluence location measurements because they represent a false signal. Most other measurements are not adversely affected by this type of defect. This type of defect is screened for during our regular camera inspection process. All pixels that exceed a set limit are corrected, if possible, before the camera ships. See Note 1 below. Our QA department will often reject cameras if the pixel can not be corrected and it exceeds our acceptance criteria.	Ultracal/baseline correction will subtract out the defective pixel. Reposition the camera to remove the defective pixel from the measurement region and employ a manual aperture to isolate the pixel from the area of interest. Return the camera to OSL to have the bad pixel corrected and the camera re-certified.
Twinkling Pixel	This is an intermittent version of the Bright Pixel defect. These often appear as the camera warms up. May disappear if the camera is run in cooler environments. Usually predicts a pixel that will soon be a permanently bright pixel defect. These are the hardest to detect and as such may get past our camera inspection process.	Same as above. If returned to OSL to be corrected please send a full frame data file showing the pixel as it is malfunctioning. This will aid in our ability to find and fix it.
Dark Pixel	Dark pixels have low responses compared to the amount of illumination that they receive. Isolated instances of these types of defects do not pose a serious beam analysis problem and they are generally not in need of correcting.	This type of defect will not significantly impact a beam measurement result unless the beam is very very small and the defect falls inside of the beam profile. Reposition the camera to remove the defective pixel from the measurement region.
Dead Pixel	Dead pixels have no response at all and may output a raw pixel value of zero (0) counts. This type of defect is screened for during our regular camera inspection process. All pixels that exceed a set limit are corrected, if possible, before the camera ships.	This type of pixel may create a warning message when performing Ultracal operations. Ignore the warning and proceed as in the Dark Pixel case described above.
Dark Clusters	These dimmer than normal clusters involving about a dozen or fewer pixels are often caused by dust particles and can usually be removed by cleaning of the imager. Sometimes these can be very difficult to impossible to remove. In the latter case they are may be melted into imager If this is the result of laser damage then imager replacement is the only solution.	These usually do not cause serious measurement problems and can be treated with the Dark Pixel workaround described above. They can sometimes be dislodged with very gentle puffs of dry air. If you return a camera to be re-certified we have a few special methods for cleaning these, but success is not 100% guaranteed.
Regions of non-uniform response	When large areas of an imager yield reduced signal levels this usually indicates laser damage. Long term exposure to ultraviolet radiation or overexposure to high laser power or peak energies are common causes.	This type of degradation is not repairable and either the camera or the camera imager must be replaced.

Note 1: The following camera models can be re-certified and can have bad pixels corrected:
GRAS20, SP620, L11058, L230, Pyrocam III, Xeva
Each of the above cameras will have a maximum number of pixels that can be corrected. Once this limit is exceeded the camera imager or the camera must be replaced in order to meet OSL "as new" certification standards. If a large cluster of defective pixels appear, then bad pixel correction may not be able to repair the defect. The following cameras do not have, or have very limited, bad pixel correction capabilities:
SCOR20, SP503, FX50, FX33, FX33HD

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A: Since there is no calibration standard to calibrate cameras to, they cannot be calibrated. We do recommend certification according to the information at; http://www.ophiropt.com/laser-measurement-instruments/customer-support/customer-support/camera-re-certification
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A: provided by a customer: "We only have a gauge that goes down to 10 mTorr. So it works at least to that level, but the vacuum was probably lower".
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A: The initial release of the SP503U and SP620U cameras did not have the ROI feature enabled. Those cameras that do not have the ROI feature enabled will need to be returned for upgrading both hardware and firmware, and the latest version of software will need to be installed, which is available at;
http://www.ophiropt.com/laser-measurement-instruments/beam-profilers/services/software-download


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A: Ophir-Spiricon goes to great lengths to qualify scientific quality cameras with blemish free imagers. We also remove the protective windows from the CCD imagers to provide full spectral response and distortion free performance. These options are not available from commercial camera manufacturers. While commercially available cameras cost less, they do not provide the performance levels the Ophir-Spiricon cameras are capable of providing.


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A:Ophir-Spiricon prefers to replace the imager in the camera before replacing the whole camera, especially with the current economic situation. By clicking the below link you will be directed to the section of our web site where you can request an RMA to return your camera for array replacement.
http://www.ophiropt.com/laser-measurement-instruments/customer-support/customer-support/rma-bp

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A: Usually this is because the camera has not been connected correctly. On desktop computers power can be pulled directly over the 6 pin to 6 pin FireWire cable. On laptops, you must use the supplied "Y" power adapter cable. The 6 pin to 6 pin FireWire cable must connect into the back of the camera and then connect into the female connection on the "Y" power adapter cable. Then the male connection of the "Y" power adapter cable is plugged into the laptop computer card. The same configuration is used for laptop computers that have built in IEEE 1394 except the 6 pin to 4 pin connector is used instead of the laptop adapter card. The round power connection must also be connected for the camera to show up in the camera list.

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A:

• CCD camera manufacturers typically quote a signal-to-noise ratio of 50 to 60db. This refers to the peak signal before saturation divided by the RMS noise. This is a 20 log function, so 60db would be equivalent to a dynamic range of 1000, whereas 50db would be a dynamic range of about 300. However, it should be noted that this is comparing peak signal to RMS noise. The peak-to-peak noise is about 6 times the RMS noise. Therefore, the dynamic range in terms of peak signal to peak-to-peak noise ranges from about 50 to 180. With 8-bit digitizers, i.e., 256 counts, this means that the bottom 2-5 counts in the digitizer are noisy.
• The Pyrocam III pyroelectric camera also has a 60db signal-to-noise ratio. However, this is a worst case pessimistic specification. Typically the dynamic range is about 70db, which means the dynamic range is about 500 relative to peak-to-peak noise. This makes the camera very useful with 10 and 12-bit digitizers

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A: The amount of power or energy that the camera can take depends on the type of camera sensor.

• CCD cameras typically saturate at about 0.3µW/cm² CW, and 3nJ/cm² pulsed
• Pyroelectric solid-state cameras typically saturate at 3W/cm² CW and 10mJ/cm² pulsed.

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A: Sampling and attenuating the beam is done in a two-step process.

• A high quality beam splitter is used to pass typically 90% of the beam through the beam splitter, and reflect or split typically 10% of the beam 90° away from the input path.
• The beam splitter is typically quartz for the UV to Near IR, and AR coated ZnSe for CO2, or a transmitting or reflecting grating.
• The beam splitter is typically quartz for the UV to Near IR, and AR coated ZnSe for CO2, or a transmitting or reflecting grating.
• The splitter can be wedged to eliminate interference from the reflections from two surfaces, or thick enough that the back side reflection does not overlap the front side reflection.
• The beam splitters are polarization sensitive, and this factor should be considered.
• This sampled beam is then typically attenuated with high quality uniform neutral density filters.
• ND filters from 450nm to 2µm can be bulk absorbing BK7 glass, and achieve excellent results.
• In the UV, quartz plates with surface reflecting coatings can be used. However, great care must be taken to minimize interference fringes.
• At 10.6µm flats of CaF2 absorb about 50% per mm thickness, and can be used to attenuate CO2 beams.
• Attenuation in the 2mm to 10mm region is difficult, and is best done by multiple beam splitters.

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A: When using a camera with a lens, the operator must perform a spatial calibration to obtain accurate dimensional results. To do this, you must set up the camera lens system to view an object of a known dimension. The object to be viewed must contrast against its background to yield well defined edges. Use the following procedure.

• In the Camera Dialog Box, set the "Pixel Scale" V value to 1.
• In the Beam Display Toolbar Dialog Box check "Cursors" and "Crosshair"
• In the Camera Dialog Box set the "Resolution" to 1X.
• On the Beam Display Toolbar set "Crosshair" to Manual and "Cursor" to Manual.
• Set the LBA into "CW Mode" and start it "Running."
• Place an object containing at least one known dimension into the imaging plane of the camera lens system, and focus the optics. (A good object might be a circular disk with a diameter of 1cm.) The object should be large enough to fill over 50% of the display height. You can hardware zoom to enlarge the object if necessary. Orient the object so that the calibration dimension aligns vertically on the Y axis cursor. You can use the Pan and Cursor controls to achieve a good alignment.
• With the mouse and left button move the cursor to one edge of the object
• With the mouse and left button move the crosshair to the object's opposite edge. The Delta = value on the screen will contain the pixel count between the known calibration dimensions. Divide this number into the calibration dimension to yield the correct "Pixel Scale" value.
• For example, if a 1cm distance produced a delta count of 176, then the "Pixel Scale" value would become .00568cm, or 56.8µm.

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A: The Pyrocam III needs a window for protection against foreign objects entering the camera, and destroying the crystal. This could happen by someone poking a brush or Q-tip to clean off lint, etc. The window also protects the sensor from the effects of humidity. The window must have anti-reflection coating, or the two surfaces of the window will create interference fringes from a collimated light source which show up on the sensor as ripples in the beam. With anti-reflection coating the reflections, and thus the interference fringes, are minimized, and the sensor sees only the beam energy.

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A: The problem we are seeing in the images you provided is what is referred to as "image tarring". This occurs when there is another process going on during the data acquisition from the camera. We also see that there are two beams on the screen at the same time. Some of which are of the same intensity and some which are what we call "Ghost Beams". These occur from a couple of things. One, it could be from a beam splitter causing a back reflection and we are picking it up on the camera. Two, it is more likely that this is a ghost beam from the laser being pulsed. We see this when the triggering on the camera is not properly set such that we are having the pulse arrive during the reset time of the array. Third this could be from using too much electronic shutter. The electronic shutter can be used as a slight attenuator, but when two much electronic shutter is used, we typically see vertical blooming.

My recommendations would be for running the camera synced to the laser pulse via the connection on the side of the camera. This will also help when trying to do single shot acquisition. The camera needs to be pre triggered by 12 uS so the camera is readied and has just started integrating when the laser pulse arrives at the CCD imager.

By putting the software into Single Shot mode it will only take one frame from the camera. However, by putting the camera into triggered mode, it waits until the trigger pulse arrives at the camera to start the integration of the CCD imager. Once the pulse arrives, the camera takes the image and stops. This mode is probably the most difficult to setup and function properly. We typically recommend that the software be set to Video Trigger and the camera to run in CW mode if you are trying to avoid seeing blank images coming from the camera until you are more comfortable with the operation of the equipment. Once you are more comfortable with how the interaction with the software, camera, and laser are working then making changes to the setup like externally triggering the camera and doing single shot data acquisition are a little easier.

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A: With the introduction of BeamGage the capability of using the built in photodiode trigger in the SP camera series is now available. However, some customers may not know how to use it or that they even had this capability.

With the recently released BeamGage version 5.4 this capability is now available. Some cameras may need to have their firmware upgraded where others just need to update to the latest version of BeamGage. To see if your camera has the latest firmware make sure you are using BeamGage 5.4 and connect your camera to the computer. Launch BeamGage and when it opens click on the Source tab. Then click on the Tools button and in the drop down list select Firmware Info. This will turn on a new section of the ribbon bar that will show the Current Version of firmware installed in the SP series of cameras. Depending on your computer screen resolution you may need to click on this section of the ribbon bar to expand this area to be able to see this information. For the SP620U it needs to be running version 207 or higher and for the SP503U it needs to be running version 305 or higher.

If by chance your camera's firmware is not a high enough version, you can easily return your camera to Ophir-Spiricon to be reprogrammed with the latest firmware to enable this capability. Please send an e-mail to Service@US.Ophiropt.com with the subject line of "RMA for camera firmware upgrade". An RMA Check List form will be e-mailed back to you to complete with your information and the S/N of your camera. Once we receive this form back we will e-mail you an RMA number and shipping instructions for sending back your camera to have the firmware upgraded to enable the built in photodiode trigger.

This built in photodiode trigger is a great option to have if your source is pulsed and you do not have an electronic sync signal to be able to sync the data acquisition of the camera to the source. This build in photodiode works for pulsed sources up to 1 KHz to be able to isolate one pulse per frame.

To enable this function, after making sure the firmware is the most current, all you need to do is click on the Source tab and then in the Trigger section drop down the Trigger box and select On-Board Photodiode. You will get a message that pops up stating "Make sure that the laser is turned off and lighting conditions in the room are similar to those that will exist during the laser measurement." When you click OK you will get a new box that comes up saying "Photo-diode calibration complete! You may now trigger the camera from the on-board photo-diode." Click OK or allow it to time out which will automatically click the OK button. Now the camera will wait for a laser pulse to illuminate the built in photodiode sensor to advance to the next frame.

Please note when using our LBS-300 beam sampler/attenuator option you may need to mount the camera inverted so the built in photodiode sensor will be uncovered from behind the mechanical housing of the LBS-300 assembly.

If you have any questions, or we can be of any assistance, please don't hesitate to contact our Service Department at:
Ophir-Spiricon
435-753-3729
Service@US.Ophiropt.com

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A: A. The spec is given in +/-5% of the mean measurement and is a P-P value.

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A: In normal (CW) operation, the CCD is automatically triggered to start a measurement. At the end of the integration time, the voltage for each pixel is read out of the CCD serially and converted by the A-to-D into a 12-bit digital value When the PLD has finished reading all the pixels of the CCD it signals to the PC that data is ready to be read. After the PC has finished reading the data, the next available measurement of the CCD is again stored and the cycle continues.

In Pulsed Mode for Long Pulses ( >5µs ), the CCD is triggered by the trigger circuit instead of automatically as for CW mode. As the pulses are long, their intensity can be read by the CCD after it is triggered, by setting the appropriate shutter time for the length of pulses.

In Pulsed Mode for Short Pulses ( <5µs ), the same method as for long pulses cannot be used because once the circuit is triggered, the pulse has already finished. Therefore, the CCD is triggered automatically as with the CW mode, but after each measurement of the CCD, the PLD checks to see whether the trigger circuit received a pulse while the CCD was measuring. If so, the data is and the cycle continues as normal; otherwise a new CCD measurement is made.

In most cases of pulsed light sources, CW operation will be sufficient (and the intensity can be adjusted by adding filters or reducing the Shutter Time). In that case, the Shutter Time should be adjusted to capture a few pulses of light for each CCD integration, to avoid having 'empty' measurement cycles where no light is captured by the CCD. In the case that the pulses are slow, and/or the Shutter Time would have to be excessively long to guarantee capturing at least one pulse each time, the Pulse Mode operation can be used instead.

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A: What determines this is the amount of power getting through the slit of size 5µm x 3mm so as long as the light source is larger than 3mm to overfill the slit, the power density is what determines this.

At a typical wavelength of 670nm, the reading reaches full scale where the exposure time x power density ~ 2E-7 Watts * sec / cm2.

Since the longest exposure time is 7s, and we can easily read 1/100th of full scale, the lowest power density on the slit will be ~ 0.5nW/cm2. If the input is from a fiber, you can use the SMA fiber input accessory (Ophir P/N 1Z08205) with focusing lens (Ophir P/N 1G01236) to focus the fiber output onto the slit.

Since the shortest exposure time is 28µs, the highest power density we can read is ~ 1mW/cm2. In practice, we can always spread the beam as much as we want or reflect it off of a diffusing surface into the WaveStar so there is really no limit to how high a power we can measure.

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A: For 905nm the single shot energy threshold is ~ 100nJ/cm2 falling on the input slit of 5um x 3mm. At 1030 - 1100nm the sensitivity will probably be 10 to 100 times less.

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A: Not exactly known but far far more than the saturation intensity so you will never reach it if set up properly.

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A: The relative spectral sensitivity is given in the accompanying graphs. Note that the WaveStar corrects for differences in spectral sensitivity.





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A: In response to growing customer demand, WaveStar is being upgraded to include ActiveX controls. This will allow other applications (such as LabVIEW, LabWindows, Visual Basic, Visual C++) to control WaveStar parameters and collect measurements in real time. This will be included in the next release of WaveStar (February 2002).

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A: When the power calibration of the WaveStar is activated by pressing the P icon, the software puts in a calibration factor for each wavelength which compensates for the variations in sensitivity of the WaveStar at various wavelengths and produces a spectral curve which has the correct relative intensity values. For instance, if the light at one wavelength has twice the intensity of another, the display will show a relative height difference between the two wavelengths of a factor of 2.

The correction curve is generated by exposing the WaveStar to a NIST traceable calibrated wide band light source. The software compares the known relative intensity values of the lamp spectral curve with the values produced by the WaveStar and generates a correction curve.

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A: The power meter available as a standard option on silicon and germanium detector NanoScans is a "relative" measurement, which means that the meter is not calibrated to an absolute standard in the factory. You need to measure the source with a calibrated power meter, then input the value into the NanoScan software. The NanoScan will then measure relative to this measured value.

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A: It is possible to use the NanoScan with a Mac, provide that the Mac has installed the Parallels and Windows operating system available from your Apple dealer. The NanoScan operates under the virtual Windows machine normally.

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A: The detector is mounted behind the slits. This position is not important to the measurements. The measurement plane is the scan plane of the slits, which is nominally 1.1mm from the face of the front cap. Refer to the mechanical drawings specific information on the measurement plane location and the reference plane of the scan head.

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A: The NanoScan Software version 1.44 for the USB2 interface, released in November, 2010, is now working with the 64-Bit Windows 7 operating system.

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A: Some users have reported an error message when attempting to install the latest versions of the NanoScan software:

Error 1330.A file that is required cannot be installed because the cabinet file C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\...\Data1.cab has an invalid digital signature. This may indicate that the cabinet file is corrupt.

This error is not caused by a corrupted file or anything in the NanoScan software. Windows systems that have not been updated in recently, may fail to validate the digital certificates that are now used with our installers; specifically the missing updates are any that say Œroot certificates update¹ or similar. This is a common occurrence in laboratory environments as the PCs are often isolated from the internet and/or not updated often. Updating the computer to obtain the current VeriSign certificates will resolve the problem.

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A: There are two different models of the LD8900 Goniometric Radiometer (far-field profiler), the LD8900 and LD8900R. The former is an 8-bit system and the latter a 16-bit and they have different controller cards and software. If you have both systems in your facility be sure that you are loading the correct software type for the instrument you are trying to operate. Mixing either the software or the controller PCBs for these will result in this non-performance symptom. Make sure that you get the correct software for your system—16-bit LD8900R for the LD8900R or 8-bit LD8900 for the LD8900.

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A: he silicon detector is very transparent to NIR light >1000nm. If it is used for measuring these beams, you will often see a tailing profile, because the signal does not decay fast enough. This will lead to erroneous results. We recommend using the germanium, or if there is enough power, the pyro electric detector for these wavelengths.

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