We report the design of a cost effective, highly sensitive cw laser power meter with a large dynamic range based on a photodiode. The power meter consists of a photodiode, a current to voltage converter circuit, an offset balancing circuit, a microcontroller, an analog to digital converter, reed relays, and an alphanumeric liquid crystal display. The power meter can record absolute laser power levels as low as 1 pW. The dynamic range measured with a cw laser at a wavelength of 532 nm is . The high sensitivity and large dynamic range are achieved by the implementation of an analog background balancing circuit and autoranging.
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.© 2008 American Institute of Physics.
2008
American Institute of Physics
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