What is it about?
This paper outlines the development of a real-time M-square measurement system and the resulting patents which formed the product as it exists today. The technology utilizes a passive optical design to create multiple spatial time slices which are simultaneously imaged onto a CMOS sensor. This allows a full caustic to be measured in a single pulse or at the frame rate of the sensor.
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Why is it important?
It is a disruptive product which makes M-square measurement of a laser quicker and more repeatable as it has no moving parts which allows the M-square measurement of a laser within a single laser pulse or at the frame rate of the camera being used.
Perspectives
This product came about because back in 2010 I tried to find a beam diagnostic system which could measure the thermal lensing of a lens design I created for high power fiber lasers. Much to my surprise, there were no instruments on the market that could measure thermal lensing dynamically. It was this need that created the Beam Waist Analyzer Camera that we call the BWA-CAM and its advent as a new way of measuring the M-square of lasers.
Michael J Scaggs
Haas Laser Technologies, Inc.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Evolution of a real-time laser M2 measurement system, Optical Engineering, January 2025, SPIE,
DOI: 10.1117/1.oe.64.1.010701.
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