© 2011 Thorlabs
123Operating the Beam Profiler
Note
It is strongly recommended to run an ambient light correction prior to any
measurement, and then enable Ambient Light Correction.
Please be aware of the fact that ambient light correction is disabled any time the
Beam software is started and/or the settings for attenuation (filter wheel) are
changed in the software (see Device settings ).
3.5.7.3
Running The Measurement
The divergence measurement is thought to measure low divergent or convergent
beam propagations. Therefore, it is required to remove any focussing elements
which produce a beam waist within the scan range.
Prior to start measurement, make sure that
the beam is aligned properly. This means that the beam is completely on
the CCD sensor over the whole scan range. If not see chapter Beam
Alignment for aligning the beam.
the ambient light is turned off or dimmed as far as possible. Ambient light
may disturb the measurement and should be avoided. See M² Application
Notes to learn how ambient light can be reduced in a non-dark
environment.
reflections and interferences are avoided as far as possible.
the laser system is warmed up - depending on the source this might last up
to 1 hour.
the laser output is spatially and temporally stable.
Start the measurement by clicking on the Start button .
While running the measurement most of the buttons and options are disabled, e.g.
the Divergence measurement settings and the toolbar. This prevents the
modification of settings during a measurement.
If necessary, the measurement can interrupted by clicking the Stop button .
After starting the measurement the X axis of the diagram is adapted to the user-
defined scan range, for example from 0 to 120 mm. The Y axis scales automatically
to the recorded beam widths.
3.5.7.4
Numerical Results
If a divergence measurement was successful the Beam Quality Measurement
window looks like the one below.
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