Fiber Coupling of a Laser Diode
Accurately coupling an ND: YAG or another powerful laser into a fiber delivery system can be a challenging task. Here is an example of how the process can be made easier using a beam profiler. Figure 1 shows the beam profile of a laser diode being used as an optical input to a fiber. The…
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Beam profiling-interesting examples
Through out the years we, at Ophir-Spiricon, have come across many interesting applications where our beam profilers and laser power sensors and meters have been very helpful to our customers. Here are a couple of interesting beam profiling applications: Contact us
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A Shortcut for Calculating Laser Power Density
Here’s a laser power density calculator, if that’s what you wanted. Read on if you’re interested in an easy way to calculate power density – even in your head. Laser engineers and technicians are often required to calculate a laser’s power density to determine whether a beam would damage an optic or sensor or for other…
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Using COM to integrate Ophir Meters into your own PC-based Photonics Application
Why would you need to use Ophir’s COM Object Ophir’s world renowned StarLab application turns a PC into a laser power/energy multi-channel analysis workstation. StarLab features include: Extensive graphic display of data: Line Plot, Histogram, Bar Chart, Simulated Analog Needle, and Position. Multiple data sets on one graph or separate graphs on the same…
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Measuring laser power of fiber optic cables
One of Ophirs clients was trying to measure transmission loss in fiber optic cables, using a PD300 sensor. He was obtaining results that vary strongly with the distance between the fiber and the sensor. Contact us
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Laser beam profiling- a key for "solar revolution"
In the past few years, along with the world’s need for alternative energy, the solar panel production industry is expanding rapidly. Contact us
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Beam profilers – Real time monitoring
Beam profilers have many advantages over acrylic block burns for monitoring laser beam profiles. Beam profilers don’t release poisonous toxic fumes and they can measure a beams profile for longer than a few seconds. In addition, a beam profiler measures the real time distribution of a lasers power density while acrylic burns can only show…
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Pyroelectric sensors for measuring high repetition rate pulsed lasers
Pyroelectric energy sensors are based on the principle that heat polarizes a pyroelectric crystal thereby causing generation of an electric charge proportional to the heat absorbed in the crystal. The simplest form of pyroelectric energy detector will then be a thin pyroelectric crystal, metalized on both faces to collect the charge generated with a parallel…
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Measuring widely diverging beams
We often are asked about measuring the power of widely diverging beams and how to do so. First of all, Ophir has integrating sphere power meters designed for divergent beams of up to +/-40 degrees divergence. These are the 3A-IS and 3A-IS-IRG power meters. These power meters are primarily for low power beams of under…
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Beam Profiling and Medical Devices
A few months ago we posted a blog with several examples of cases where beam profilers helped manufactures and companies. Here are a few examples where a beam profiler was used to indicate and repair lasers that malfunctioned in the medical industry. Contact us
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How to measure broad band light beams with powers in the order of nano watts?
A few months ago we posted about Ophir 3A series of thermal sensors which can measure powers as low as 60 microwatts. The only technology that can be used to measure powers which are lower than a few microwatts is photodiode sensors. Photodiodes are sensitive to extremely low power levels, as low as picowatts. Contact…
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What are the top specifications to understand when selecting a laser measurement sensor or laser power meter?
The biggest issue is picking out the appropriate sensor that will measure the laser light (most will measure other types of broadband light as well). Since it is not trivial to find the best sensor for a given application, we recommend using our Sensor Finder available on our website that automatically calculates the best sensor…
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