Photon has announced a new automated beam profiling system that acquires high-precision beam profiles along an optical path. This instrument is designed for fast M2 measurements, collimation measurements, and other optical analysis commonly performed in the laser and optics industry.
The system hardware consists of a motorised rail with a stage for the NanoScan scan head. The position of the stage is controlled directly from the NanoScan software. An ActiveX software interface allows for customised testing routines or integration into larger test systems for manufacturing.
The NanoScan slit-profiler generates sub-micron resolution beam profiles. Beam size, beam position, and other spatial parameters of the light intensity profile can be determined with resolution of a few tens of nanometres. NanoScan systems profile both continuous and pulsed lasers from 190nm up to 1000µm in wavelength, and at powers as high as kilowatts or as low as a few microwatts. Beam sizes from 5µm to 20mm are measured with the NanoScan.