Do You Use a High Average Power Pulsed Laser?
The average powers of pulsed lasers are getting higher and higher these days. With IPG Photonics’ fiber lasers, Trumpf’s solid state lasers, and others, pulsed lasers can have average powers higher than 100 W.
This can pose a challenge when you try to measure and monitor your laser beam, as very few pyroelectric energy sensors can handle that level of average power.
If you just want to measure average power or single-shot energy, you can use a thermal head. However, there’s no replacement for a pyro when it comes to measuring each pulse or monitoring your laser for missing pulses.
The problem is Ophir’s toughest pyro sensor could only deal with up to 50 W average power (and that’s with a heat sink).
Until now.
The new FPE80 can measure lasers with an average power up to 200 W.
Well, I call it FPE80 for short. It’s full name is: FPE80BF-DIF-C.
That’s a mouthful. Let’s break it down:
- Fan-cooled
- Pyroelectric
- 80 mm pyroelectric crystal
- BF coating
- Diffuser
- Compact
Three of these features help with high power and energy. Both the BF coating and the diffuser help raise the damage threshold of the sensor. But the fan cooling is the feature that is truly unique to this pyro sensor and this is what gives it such a high average power spec.
As lasers continue to push the limits in every direction, our challenge is to keep providing measurement solutions to a more and more diverse range of lasers. We’re very excited to keep up with the advancements of the laser industry, since this is one industry that just won’t stop advancing.
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