© 2011 Thorlabs
83Operating the Beam Profiler
Note
A nearly Gaussian shape is not an indicator for high beam quality!
Therefore, a single beam shape shot measured by a Beam Profiler does not allow a
statement about beam quality.
Although a single Beam Profiler result is not a measure if beam quality, the Thorlabs
Camera Beam Profiler Series can be used to measure beam quality in a
sophisticated manner.
Beam Propagation Measurement is carried out according to ISO 11146 standard.
The key idea is to measure the course of beam diameter d(z) along the axis of beam
propagation z.
Measured beam
diameter samples
The Beam Profiler is mounted on a translation stage which is controlled by the Beam
Profiler software too.
At several z positions the beam diameter and other parameters are measured and
stored.