Abstract

High-power lasers are increasingly used in wide range of industrial manufacturing processes and scientific research [1,2]. Thermal lensing effects makes the high-power lasers not always stable over the very long periods of time required in manufacturing processes and thus changes the output laser beam parameters [3]. The key parameters for industrial lasers are M² value, focused spot size and its position shift with respect to the work-piece. Changes in these properties may cause the process to fail or yield low quality output. Real-time monitoring and instantaneous measurement of these parameters simultaneously throughout the manufacturing process is highly desirable. Such measurements also enables the laser developers to observe the variation of M² during cavity optimizations for achieving TEM₀₀ mode.

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