High power lasers used in processes such as welding must be carefully montiored to optimise performance. A new beam monitor from Precision-Optical promises to do just that
Using its expertise in diamond machining, Precision-Optical Engineering has designed a novel laser beam sampling system, the beam monitor BM10.6, in order to specifically solve the problem of non-invasive monitoring of high power CO2 lasers in materials processing applications.
The water cooled BM10.6 is based on the use of single point diamond turning to produce a very weak diffraction grating on an OFHC copper substrate (usually a fold mirror).
The proportion of the beam sampled, and even the angle of the outcoupled sample, can be varied to allow for customising to particular optical systems.
Typical sampling is of the order of 0.0005 of the input beam.
An appropriate detector can be used to give a measure of the power in the main laser beam.
The use of this sampling system, however, does not affect the primary function of the beam and can be used continuously for beams up to 10 kW power.
The customised monitor requires no internal adjustments and features a safety interlock.
This can be used to shut the laser down if the power exceeds threshold limits.
