Gentec-EO Beamage-M2 - Manual (Page 8)

Beamage-M 2 User Manual Revision 2.0 8
1. Beamage-M2
1.1. Introduction
The M 2 factor can be considered as a quantitative indicator of laser beam quality. In terms of propagation, it is
an indicator of closeness to an ideal Gaussian beam at the same wavelength. Paired with a Beamage-3.0 beam
profiling camera, the Beamage-M2 module can provide Real-Time M
2 measurement directly in the PC-Beamage-
3.0 software. The calculations are based on the second order spatial moments and therefore are fully compliant
to the ISO 11146 and 13694 standards.
Unlike other M
2 measurement systems, the Beamage-M 2 can measure the propagation parameters of a laser
beam without the need of any moving part, providing calculation of the M 2 factor in less than a second. This
condition allows the possibility to do on-line monitoring. Its modular design allows users who only want to
measure the energy or intensity spatial profile of their beam to remove the Beamage-3.0 from the M
2 module
and use it as a simple beam profiler.