A laser power reading can tell you how much power is being measured. But does it tell you whether the beam is properly aligned? Whether its position is stable? Or whether its size is changing in ways that could affect your application?

In many laser applications, these questions matter just as much as power itself.

When power alone doesn’t tell the whole story

Consider a laser system where consistent performance is critical. The measured power may look as expected, yet the beam could be off-center, moving over time, or changing in size.

Depending on the application, these variations can affect alignment, system integration, or the way laser energy reaches its target. A power reading alone may not reveal the full picture.

This is where measuring additional beam parameters can provide useful insight.

Three parameters, a more complete picture

Power: How much laser power is being measured? Power measurements help users monitor output and identify changes over time.

Position: Where is the beam relative to its intended position? Position measurements can support alignment and help reveal beam movement or pointing instability.

Size: How large is the beam? In applications where beam dimensions matter, size measurements can help identify variations that may otherwise go unnoticed, such as unexpectedly moving toward or away from focus.

The measurements required depend on the application. Ophir’s BeamTrack family includes sensors that measure power and position, as well as models that measure power, position and beam size.

From alignment to ongoing monitoring

Beam position can be important both during initial system alignment and during operation. Monitoring position over time can help engineers investigate pointing stability and understand whether the beam remains where it is expected to be.

Ophir’s BeamTrack and StarLab beam-pointing stability demonstration illustrates how beam position can be visualized to help assess movement.

In applications where beam size is also important, tracking size over time can provide additional information. Read more about monitoring laser position and beam size over time in StarLab with a BeamTrack sensor.

How BeamTrack supports laser measurement

Ophir’s BeamTrack sensors combine laser power and position measurement, with beam-size measurement available on selected models. Depending on the sensor and application, these measurements can support alignment, stability monitoring and industrial system integration.

The appropriate configuration depends on the parameters that need to be measured and the requirements of the application.

Explore the Ophir Laser Position Sensors product family to learn more about the available options.

See BeamTrack in action

How can these measurements help address practical engineering challenges? See BeamTrack in operation and explore real-world applications in an upcoming Ophir webinar.

Power, Position and Size with 1 Sensor: Ophir “BeamTrack”

October 28, 2026
Presenter: Mark Slutzki, Sr. Product Marketing Specialist

The webinar will explore problems BeamTrack can help solve, demonstrate the system in operation, and share customer case studies.

Register for the webinar!