NON-DISRUPTIVE, LOW LOSS IN-LINE LASER BEAM MONITORING SYSTEM FOR INDUSTRIAL LASER PROCESSING

摘要

Monitoring both near and far field laser beamparameters is extremely helpful in understanding thequality of a laser process. The measurement of suchparameters has not been practical to date due to therequired disruption of the process beam in order tomake the measurement. A significant quality controlenhancement could be realized if one could monitorboth near and far field patterns of the laser systemduring the process if it could be done with minimal lossor alteration of the process beam. A novel opticaldesign is discussed that integrated into a laser processhead with minimal power loss and disruption to theLaser beam. This in-line monitoring system providesfocal spot size, Rayleigh length, focal position and Msquaredvalues as well as all the other ISO beamprofiling parameters in real time. An in-line laser beammonitoring system makes possible a higher level ofquality control and reduced scrap thereby providing ahigher level of reliability to laser processing.