<title>Analysis of the laser intensity distribution</title>

Abstract

ABSTRACTNowadays it is very important to know such beam parameters as beam diameter, divergence angle, beam propagationfactor M2. It is very useful for many laser applications as well during experimentation. Thus we made an appropriatedevice, which consists of hardware and software. It allows one to measure the main parameters of a laser beam. The algorithm of measurements is based on double and multiple beam diameter measurements. The beam diameter isdefined as a second moment of the intensity distribution function of the beam at some cross-section. The measurementsand calculations are made according to the International Standard 1501 1 146 'Test methods for laser beam parameters:Beam widths, divergence angle and beam propagation factor'. The software includes options for evaluation of short-term and long-term power (or intensity) instability. It is also possible to do Gaussian or Flat-top fit to the beam intensity that is used to evaluate how close the beam is to TEM00 modeor to the uniform beam.Keywords: intensity distribution, beam quality factor M2, accuracy of measurements