Real-time determination of laser beam quality by modal decomposition

Abstract

We present a real-time method to determine the beam propagation ratio M2 of laser beams. The all-optical measurement of modal amplitudes yields M2 parameters conform to the ISO standard method. The experimental technique is simple and fast, which allows to investigate laser beams under conditions inaccessible to other methods.

8 pages, 4 figures, published in Optics Express