Articles

Using a Power Meter to detect unwanted fluorescence in a filter

Absorptive glass filters have varying degrees of non-trivial fluorescence, which can be problematic in some applications. Here’s a fairly simple way to check if a filter is fluorescing:

Place the filter in a collimated beam with a power meter behind it, located very close to the filter and measure the signal.
Increase the distance (>> 10x the beam diameter) from the filter to the power meter and measure again the signal..

BeamGage Multiple Processes and Local Port Communication

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...

Imaging UV light with CCD Cameras

Chuck Reagan, Southeast Sales Manager, Ophir-Spiricon, LLC

Is it possible to image a UV laser with a Silicon Sensor CCD camera offered by Ophir-Spiricon? The answer is yes, but the direct UV light ablates Silicon CCD chips over time. The ablation is cumulative and depends on the intensity, the wavelength, and the duration of the light on the sensor. The best choice for imaging UV light without damage is to avoid directly imaging the beam on the CCD sensor by using an UV image converter...

5 Situations Where Laser Performance Measurement is Necessary

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.

How often should data be collected?
What measurements...

White Paper – Image Of Laser From Rayleigh Scattering Directly Correlated To Beam Waist Measurements Of High-Power Lasers

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...

New Online Calibration Portal

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://calibration.us.ophiropt.com. Please contact one of our...

Measuring Pulsed Lasers with NanoScan 2s

Kevin Kirkham, NW Regional Sales Manager, Ophir-Spiricon, LLC

The NanoScan 2s is the newest scanning slit, sensor-based, beam profiling system from Ophir-Spiricon LLC. It can profile pulsed laser beams with repetition rates in the 10 kHz range and above. To enable the measurement of these pulsed lasers, the profiler incorporates a "peak connect" algorithm...

A discussion of Laser Beam Profiling and the subject of Accuracy

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...

Measuring an unstable laser can be frustrating.

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,

Fluctuations , where the time constant is short,

2.Drift, where the time constant is longer...

The Fine Print on Sensor Data Sheets

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...

Multiple Instances of BeamGage

BeamGage does have the ability to run multiple instances while connected to the same camera source, which can add benefits such as simultaneous mutually exclusive results. For instance, you can display the Beam Width Major and minor result along with the Beam Width X and Y result, which on one instance of BeamGage is a one or the other limitation. Additionally through automation, the results from the multiple instances could be acquired simultaneously thus expanding the potential utility of the BeamGage application...

Upgrading NS v2 software from Standard to Professional

The NS v2 software is the same for both Standard and Professional, no need to download/install a different version. To perform the upgrade you must purchase the license for the NS v2 Professional. With the included license key you can click on the blue scanhead image in the left corner and select About from the dropdown, where you can then upgrade the scanhead from the Upgrade License box (see below)...

How to Lock Out Controls in BeamGage

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...

Beam Diagnostics Improve Laser Heat Treatment Effectiveness

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 beam shape, the uniformity of its intensity, and the cleanliness of...

Business Perspective: Overcoming Barriers to Industrial Laser Performance Measurement

John McCauley, Product Specialist, Ophir Photonics Group

echnological advancements in laser sources and the systems in which they are integrated have provided the industrial laser user with higher quality and more consistent laser processes. Laser OEMs and systems integrators continue to make improvements in their products and services thanks to partnerships with system component manufacturers, laser applications development houses, and end users...

White Paper – Laser Measurement Solutions for Medical Applications

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 minimized....

White Paper – High Power Industrial Laser Applications: New Solutions to Old Problems

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...

White Paper – New Low-Cost Co2 Beam Profiler Eliminates Need for Acrylic Mode Burns

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...

A discussion of Laser Beam Profiling and the subject of Accuracy

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...

Using the FL250A-LP1-DIF-33 at "None of the Above" wavelengths

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...

How to set BeamGage to lock out making changes to settings inadvertently

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....

Is goodness of fit a better metric than circularity?

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...

Technology’s Role in the Evolution from Laser Technician to Laser Technology Specialist

John McCauley, Product Specialist, Ophir Photonics Group

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...

Apples to Apples: Which Camera Technologies Work Best for Beam Profiling Applications, Part 4: Scanning Slit vs Camera-Based Beam Analyzers

By G.E. Slobodzian, Director of Engineering, Retired, Ophir-Spiricon

Part 1: New Camera Technologies

Part 2: Baseline Methods and Mode Effects

Part 3: Beam Aperturing Methods

...

Clone of Simple alignment procedure of the MS-1780 Real-Time M² Analyzer

Proper alignment of the MS-1780 is essential for its operation, and this can occasionally seem difficult to achieve. Here is a simple method for making sure the system is properly aligned to get the “first light” conditions that will allow easy fine tuning for experimental results.

In order for the system to work properly the laser beam needs to enter the optical center of the aperture on the horizontal axis of the instrument. In order to be able to fine-adjust the beam it is useful to use steering mirrors to direct the...

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