High Power Lasers – Just Measure It

Laser power and the applied laser densities are constantly rising. These high-power lasers are more likely to be used in materials processing applications such as welding, cutting, cladding, or additive manufacturing.

Many of those applications are demanding: The laser's focal spot and beam profile need to be kept within the specification to achieve the required part quality and establish a reproducible process.

How can laser parameters of beams in the range of multi kilowatts and with power densities reaching more than 10 MW/cm2 be measured with existing camera technology without damaging the camera or the optics?