By Kristen Winterton, Calibration Technician, Ophir-Spiricon LLC
A common concern that I have heard throughout my years with Ophir-Spiricon is that many people do not understand the necessity of calibration. They do not understand what the calibration process entails, and how it can save them money, time, and frustration.
Our products are used throughout the world in many different areas, from medical and scientific processes to defense and...
BeamGage is a multiple process application with three process types which run when BeamGage is operating: Spiricon.ConsoleService.exe, Spiricon.DataServer.exe, and Spiricon.Version5.exe. These processes can be viewed in Windows Task Manager under the Processes tab.
Spiricon.ConsoleService.exe is a Windows service process that launches the BeamGage connections to cameras. Spiricon.DataServer.exe is the process which acquires data from cameras. Spiricon.Version5.exe is the main BeamGage...
Measuring the performance of a laser has possible for a number of years and is accomplished with a variety of techniques. These electronic laser measurement solutions give the laser user more relevant, time-based data that shows trends in laser performance rather than single data points. While these solutions have provided laser users with the ability to present data in a simple and easy to understand manner, the application of the data still seems to be unclear to many laser users.
Abstract
The discovery of Rayleigh Scattering by 3rd Baron Rayleigh, John William Strutt, served an explanation of why the sky is blue during the daytime and different hues of orange, pink, and purple in the early morning hours and at dusk. But it was only recently that this phenomenon has been applied to the measurement of high-powered lasers. Only through the measurement of the laser source and laser system can the user of the laser fully understand its performance and then start to control the processes in which they...
By Kristen Winterton, Calibration Technician, Ophir-Spiricon LLC
VIDEO: Online Calibration Portal
Ophir-Spiricon is proud to announce the release of our new online Calibration Portal. This portal will allow you to track the status of open RMAs and maintain calibration information for all equipment. You may access our Calibration Portal at http://...
Question: How can I be certain that my Beam Profiler is measuring accurately? Is there a standard calibration methodology?
Answer: There is no calibration standard from which one can verify their camera based beam profiling measurement accuracy. Spiricon has done the next best thing to provide customer confidence in reliable and consistent results from its camera based profilers. The issue can be broken down into two major areas; 1) the input (camera), and 2) the output (from software algorithms)....
To handle a beam who’s power is unstable, you’ll first need to observe the behavior of the readings. Unstable power can take two forms:
1. Fluctuations , where the time constant is short,
2.Drift, where the time constant is longer
...Each Ophir power/energy sensor is provided with a functional data sheet with helpful information about its particular operational parameters and specifications. Below the typical specifications are notes, in fine print, partly because there is quite a lot of really useful information contained therein that is being sized to fit on one page. These notes are categorized as Notes: (a) (b) (c) (d) …etc. corresponding to their particular specification association.
These notes are very...
BeamGage does have the ability to lock out controls and the modification of reported results through the Options Privileges feature.
In BeamGage, click on the Options button and then the Privileges item and the following dialog box will open. In order to access this privilege control, the user must be assigned Administrator privileges on the local machine...
By Dick Rieley, East Coast Regional Sales Manager, Ophir Photonics
Over the years, different approaches have been used to heat treat metals, typically relying on large furnaces where an entire object is subjected to the heating process. This method can consume substantial amounts of energy and is not a useful approach when attempting to heat treat a specific area or portion of the equipment. The use of lasers to perform this heat treating process has become a well-accepted approach. Understanding the...
By Mark Slutzki, Product Manager, Ophir Photonics
Introduction
Because a laser beam provides a vehicle for delivering energy in such a precisely controlled way, and without physical contact, it’s not surprising that the laser has found so much use in medical applications.
It’s used as a surgical tool (Fig. 1), cutting through various types of tissue in place of the traditional scalpel, and simultaneously cauterizing blood vessels as it goes, so that bleeding is...
Mark Slutzki Product manager
High power laser systems are making their way into more and more industrial applications. From cutting steel, to drilling via holes in silicon, to marking plastic, a whole range of processes now make use of the laser to produce results not previously practical. Advances in fiber lasers in particular, with their scalability, beam quality and wall-plug efficiency, have made laser beams with powers of many tens of KW a common tool available to commercial users. Even processes...
by Lawrence Green Ophir-Spiricon, LLC
Acrylic Mode Burns have historically been universally used because they are the lowest cost alternative to the budget-minded end user. This method, however has been cited for producing dangerous, cancer-causing airborne materials, and is not a real time technology. On the other hand, Real-time beam profiling has been historically too expensive for the average user to acquire.
We discuss a new technology that enables the design of a new low-cost real time CO2 high power beam profiler that is within...
Question: How can I be certain that my Beam Profiler is measuring accurately? Is there a standard calibration methodology?
Answer: There is no calibration standard from which one can verify their camera based beam profiling measurement accuracy. Spiricon has done the next best thing to provide customer confidence in reliable and consistent results from its camera based profilers. The issue can be broken down into two major areas; 1) the input (camera), and 2) the output (from software...
The FL250A-LP1-DIF-33 is specified over the range 0.4um – 3um. However, as the spec points out, it is only calibrated at 3 specific wavelengths (532nm, 755nm, 1064nm); what if your laser is "none of the above", say, Erbium at 2940nm?
The FL250A-LP1-DIF-33 uses the LP1 absorber, whose spectral response is not flat, and also has an alumina diffuser – whose spectral response is also not flat. Although we do have the full measured curve as part of the regular...
BeamGage has the ability to lock out the ability to make changes to the settings in case you inadvertently change something you shouldn't have, or if you want to lock out operators in a production environment from making changes that violate testing procedures
To do this, click on the application icon in the upper left corner of the application and then click on the Options button next to the Exit button. In the dialog box that pops up on the left side click the Privileges item....
Questions like these are common, given the sheer number of parameters Ophir's BeamGage software calculates from each beam profile. When faced with all these various metrics, it's natural to wonder which ones are more important or if one parameter is the best one to describe your laser.
The challenge is, all lasers are different and so one parameter that describes a laser well in one instance is not very important in another. In this particular example, "goodness of fit...
By John McCauley, Product Specialist, Ophir Photonics Group
| Most anyone working with lasers today will tell you that it is an exciting field. Applications of coherent light at different wavelengths are ever increasing and show no signs of plateauing. The skills required to understand, troubleshoot, and correct problems with lasers, and the systems they are a part of, are in high demand. It's all part of an evolution whereby yesterday's laser technician has turned into today... |
By G.E. Slobodzian, Director of Engineering, Retired, Ophir-Spiricon
Part 1: New Camera Technologies
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