The performance of an industrial laser is very much depending upon the characteristics of the laser beam. The ISO standards 11146 and 11154 which are describing test methods for laser beam parameters have been approved. To implement these methods in industry is difficult and especially for the infrared laser sources, such as the CO2-laser, the available analysing systems are slow, difficult to apply and are having limited reliability due to the nature of the detection methods. In some RTD projects 3 different laser beam analysing systems dedicated to high power CO2-lasers have been developed. One of the projects was aiming towards developing a beam analysing system meeting the strict demands of the standards. The other project aimed towards developing built-in detectors for laser cutting systems. In this paper these detecting systems will be described.

1.
EN ISO 11146
(
1999
)
Laser and laser related equipment –Test methods for laser beam parameters – Beam widths, divergence angle and beam propagation factor.
2.
EN ISO 11554
(
1998
):
Optics and optical instruments – Laser and laser related equipment – Test methods for laser beam power, energy and temporal characteristics.
3.
EN ISO 11670
(
1999
):
Laser and laser related equipment – Test methods for laser beam parameters – Beam pointing stability.
4.
EN ISO 12005
(
1999
):
Laser and laser related equipment – Test methods for laser beam parameters – Polarization.
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© 2004 Laser Institute of America.
2004
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