Since pulsed Nd:YAG lasers are used more and more in industrial production, there is a need for the fast and reliable beam characterization of these devices. This is even more important for flash-lamp-pumped laser systems which show strong fluctuations in the energy density distribution of their single pulses resulting in quality or performance variations and poor reproducibility in material processing. Within this paper the requirements for a diagnostic device used for observation and measurement of pulsed laser radiation are defined with respect to the needs of the laser drilling process. This device must be able to observe the shot to shot stability of the main beam parameters. Unfortunately, the most common beam measurement devices are designed mainly for cw-beam diagnostics. For this reason, we have investigated a measurement procedure and developed a prototype for laser beam diagnostics adapted to the needs of laser material processing. The special demands of the process, the measurement principle as well as the prototype and first experimental results will be discussed.

Date Published: 9 October 1998
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 3418, Advances in Optical Beam Characterization and Measurements, (9 October 1998); doi: 10.1117/12.326651

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3418:
Advances in Optical Beam Characterization and Measurements
Michel Piche, Editor(s)