Hobby Grade Laser Beam Profiler

[wee40811]

I was thinking of using a linear CCD, from a scanner since those are abundant and cheap.

I don't know if the linear CCD would work though, since a lot of times the beams are asymmetric and with linear CCD you will only get the cross section of the beam. Unless youscan the across the beam. The filter issue is fairly easy to resolve since you can have a combination of filters so for higher power laser you can just add on more filter. Or one of those adjustable one might work, but be aware that there will be difference in OD across the beam because the filter density change is continuous.

 

[ARG]

Yeah, I was planning on scanning across the beam by mounting the CCD on a CD drive sled.

 

[wee40811]

Yeah, I was planning on scanning across the beam by mounting the CCD on a CD drive sled.

But in this way you will not be able to measure the beam diameter with the CCD. Also, how are you going to solve the line up issue from the image obtained by the CCD?

 

[OldNo7]

I know this post is a little old but have you tried Open Beam Profiler

 

[clansley]

I know this post is a little old but have you tried Open Beam Profiler

Interesting find. Documentation is a bit thin - it says to use specific monocrome cameras but I was unable to find a list of supported ones.

 

[LSRFAQ]

I use both linear CCDs and large format CCDs. Webcam CCDs are for the most part worthless as most of them are too small. It is also difficult to get the calibration data for Webcam CCD pixel spacing. Not surprisingly, Webcams often do not have the same CCD from batch to batch.

See here, some day I'll finish the thread with the actual setup in use.

A Bit about Measuring Beam Diameter.

Steve

 

[Deleted member 16589]

I wish i had seen this post earlier. even though it looks like your making one but here you go anyway. USB CCD Laser Beam Porfiler /laser spot Analyser/400nm-1100nm [OL-LBP] - $238.00 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce