Laser beam quality characterization

The demands on the quality of laser beams are becoming much greater. Traditional methods of measuring laser intensity profile such as burn spots, mode burns, and viewing the reflected beam, are woefully inadequate for today's applications. The increasingly high quality of lasers is to a large extent due to the availability of electronic beam profile instruments. These instruments provide a real time view of the laser beam profile that provides greater intuition to enable laser optimization. Also, electronic laser beam profilers produce much more accurate quantification of laser beam properties. The accuracy of these measurements enables scientists to fine tune the laser properties to a greater extent than previously possible.