Chapter 8 - Alignment, tooling, and angle tracking

Abstract

This chapter discusses the position-sensitive detectors that are required for applications requiring measurement of the position of a laser beam. It describes the use of lasers for alignment applications known as “tooling.” One of the most common applications of lasers in industry arises in the solution of the alignment problems, in which knowledge of the displacement from a reference line or plane is required. Such applications are made possible by the unusual properties of the laser radiation. The most important properties are: the directionality of the beam, and the high radiance. The most practical laser systems for alignment have employed He–Ne lasers, typically at power levels around 1–5 mW. The orange-red beam from such a laser is easy to detect. It is not necessary to use lasers with higher power. The He–Ne laser is thus reliable and inexpensive, and has become the laser of choice for alignment applications in which a visible beam is required with modest power.