BeamGage Analysis Software

MKS Ophir, Light & Measurement

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LOGAN, Utah, Aug. 25, 2010 — Ophir-Spiricon has announced that its BeamGage next-generation laser beam analysis and profiling software now supports the XEVA InGaAs near-infrared camera that delivers high sensitivity from 900 to 1700 nm at room temperatures, making it useful for both laboratory and industrial applications. The camera's InGaAs array is formatted for 320 × 256-pixel resolution with 30-µm square pixels.

A nonuniformity correction algorithm handles two-point correction plus bad pixel correction to improve image accuracy. Based on the proprietary and patented UltraCal baseline correction algorithm, the software provides highly accurate results, guaranteeing that the data baseline (zero-point reference) is accurate to ? of a digital count on a pixel-by-pixel basis.

It retains negative signals essential for making correct beam width measurements and for extracting weak signals out of noise. With the baseline set too high, the algorithm interprets the baseline as wings in the laser beam, and calculated beam widths are too large. With the baseline set too low, laser wings are clipped off in the analog-to-digital converter, and calculated beam widths are too small. Setting the baseline precisely makes beam width calculations more accurate.

The software lets the user employ custom calculations. User-defined computations are treated just as the standard calculations are, and custom results are displayed on the monitor, logged with results and included on hard copy printouts as if they were part of the original application.

The user can open the pointing stability program to collect centroid and peak data from the core system and display it graphically, and can view a chart recorder and statistical functions in one interface. He can configure the displayed calculations, set up the screen layout and password-protect the configuration from any changes, enabling secure product testing and data collection for statistical process control, and assuring the validity of the data. The 2-D display is zoomed to increase resolution of the area of interest.

The graphical user interface is new, and dockable and floatable windows plus concealable ribbon tool bars allow the use of a small laptop display or a large multimonitor desktop PC.

The software can interface to the company’s power meters and will match up the time stamps of the laser power readings to beam profile data with a similar time stamp. It allows the user to input the power or energy associated with a beam profile by keyboard. It also interfaces to FireWire and USB cameras.

It is available in two versions. BeamGage Standard features the BeamMaker beam simulator that can synthetically generate beam profile data, automatic camera control for ease of use and a comprehensive set of beam analysis algorithms. The Professional version adds capabilities such as partitioning of the camera output for separate analysis of multiple laser beams from sources like fiber, a .NET interface for full remote control when integrating beam analysis into an automated application, and camera sharing.

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Published: August 2010