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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Measurement of pulsed-laser power

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5771627
The calibration of several optical-pulse power meters to an accuracy of about 8% or better are described. The meters are designed for Q-switched neodymium lasers with peak powers in excess of a few megawatts and pulses longer than five or ten nanoseconds. Combined with a fast oscilloscope or a transient digitizer, the meters display the time-domain waveform of the laser emission and thereby allow determination of parameters such as transition duration (risetime, falltime), duration and peak power. The calibration of the meters by both pulsed and cw methods are described, and it is shown why each method is useful as a check on the other. The effect of speckle on the use of diffusers as attenuators in power meters is treated in some detail.
Research Organization:
National Bureau of Standards, Boulder, CO (USA). Electromagnetic Technology Div.
OSTI ID:
5771627
Report Number(s):
PB-294049
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English