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How to Measure Very Low Power Infrared Lasers[Update] And femtowatt lasers!
Updated March 2016: I made a few changes to this post now that the new low power RM9-PD is available.
There are many different types of lasers.[citation needed]
UV, visible, infrared, Terahertz.
Nanowatts, milliwatts, kilowatts.
Lasers for industry, laser for medicine, lasers for telecommunication.
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The Most Versatile Sensors for Very Low Power Lasers
The 3A family of laser power sensors is one of our most popular – and for good reason.
You might already know the basic points:
It’s very sensitive (down to 10 μW), yet comes with all the benefits of a thermal-based sensor: high damage threshold and spectrally flat across a very wide spectral range.
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How to Measure Low Power Lasers (Picowatts to Watts)
There are a few different ways to measures laser power, but the most common is the photodiode. Photodiodes translate light energy into electricity (current), which can be measured by a current sensor.
Ophir uses a few types of photodiodes in its PD300 series.
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Don’t Come to Our LASER World of PHOTONICS Booth Unless…
Going to Munich for LASER World of PHOTONICS 2015?
We’ll be showing several new products in Munich, not to mention quite a few of our classics.
But…
You’re going to be busy. You can’t (and shouldn’t) go to every booth. So I’m going to very clear. Our booth is not for everyone. However,
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Worried about High Power (10 kW) Laser Backscatter?
With high power lasers, there’s always a safety concern for equipment and people nearby.
(Of course, I’m not qualified to give a detailed analysis of what needs to be taken into account for laser safety. For that, you should consult a laser safety officer.)
I want to specifically ask whether there’s an issue of laser light reflecting off power measuring equipment.
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What to Do when Your Laser Doesn’t Perform to Spec
You’re so upset you could spit.
You just got a new laser for your factory floor, but it just won’t make parts that pass inspection.
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Photometric Measurements: Measuring Illuminance with the PD300-CIE
In applications where a human observer is involved (for example illumination applications), it is often important to measure using the eye-response-matched Photometric system of units. Ophir’s PD300-CIE is a photometric sensor, and is designed to measure illuminance (in units of Lux or Foot-Candles).
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The Difficulties in M-Squared Measurement –And How to Overcome Them
A clear benefit of knowing the M2 of your laser is getting a lot of information about beam quality all in one number.
As simple as the output is, it is harder than you may imagine to measure and calculate M-Squared.
Let’s take a quick look at the theory behind M2 to see how it can be measured.
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How to Keep a Laser Power Sensor Clean
Harsh.
Extreme.
Noisy.
These are a few words used to describe an industrial environment.
What about your laser sensor? Will it survive this?
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Improve Your Laser Marking Process
Lasers are amazing. They can cut or weld, drill or solder. A very general application of laser materials processing is called laser marking. This can refer to a host of processes, like: etching, engraving, ablating, etc. Here’s a question I never considered: How can you be sure that your laser will mark the wood (or…
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Peak power vs. Average Power What is it, and how do I measure it?
A pulsed laser could have an average power of, say, 1 Watt, yet a peak power of 1 Megawatt – so when specifying it’s rather important to understand the difference! Contact us
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M-Squared: Lasers’ KPI (Key Performance Indicator)
With all of today’s technology, we are drowning in data. I know this is true in fields like marketing and running a business, and I’m sure it rings true with measuring your laser as well. There are all sorts of things you can measure, but it’s never worth measuring something unless you plan on…
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