Radiation-Pressure Enabled Traceable Laser Sources at High CW Powers

Published

January 4, 2019

Author(s)

Paul A. Williams, Alexandra B. Artusio-Glimpse, Joshua A. Hadler, Daniel King, Ivan Ryger, Tam Vo, John H. Lehman, Kyle A. Rogers

Abstract

Radiation pressure has recently been shown to have practical application for multi-kilowatt CW laser power measurement. One key advantage lies in its ability to measure without absorbing the laser beam. This enables a new measurement paradigm where laser power can be measured traceable to the SI without perturbing the beam. Combining this measurement scheme with a laser constitutes a “traceable source” where laser output power is traceable to the SI in real time. This greatly simplifies the calibration process for multi-kilowatt laser power meters and yields a path to high-accuracy laser-based material processing. Here, we discuss the state of the art of this approach by describing recent results from calibrations of laser power meters performed using a radiation-pressure-enabled traceable source at CW powers from 1 kW to 50 kW. We describe measurement results and uncertainty contributions with expanded uncertainties at or below 1.7 % for powers above 10 kW. We also briefly discuss the status of development of a radiation-pressure based technology designed to provide source traceability in the laser manufacturing environment.

Citation

IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1109/TIM.2018.2886108

Keywords

Radiation pressure, laser power, calorimetry, laser welding, additive manufacturing

Citation

Williams, P. , Artusio-Glimpse, A. , Hadler, J. , King, D. , Ryger, I. , Vo, T. , Lehman, J. and Rogers, K. (2019), Radiation-Pressure Enabled Traceable Laser Sources at High CW Powers, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, [online], https://doi.org/10.1109/TIM.2018.2886108 (Accessed July 17, 2025)