Laser power detection using normalized linear slices to construct gaussian profiles

An apparatus for determining total laser power of a laser comprising:

• a planar array of photodiode sensors configured to take multiple spatial samples of an irradiation profile from a beam strike of the laser to identify linear offset Gaussian slices for each of the multiple spatial samples used to solve for a Gaussian of the irradiation profile;
• a processor connected to the photodiode sensors, the processor configured to:
• measure an angle of incidence of a central axis of the laser beam relative to a normal of the planar array;
• measure a positional offset of the planar array relative to a plane perpendicular to the central axis of the laser beam;
• create a projection of the plane in which the photodiodes are located onto the plane perpendicular to the central axis of the laser beam using a linear transformation based on the positional offset and angle of incidence to provide linear slices;
• construct the Gaussian profiles from the normalized linear slices;
• and
• determine the total laser power from the Gaussian profiles.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising stored instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

• measure an irradiation profile from a beam strike of laser by taking multiple spatial samples of the laser beam strike on a planar array of photosensors to identify linear offset Gaussian slices used to solve for a Gaussian of the irradiation profile;
• solve the Gaussian of the irradiation profile for each of the multiple spatial samples to obtain a Gaussian profile of the beam, wherein solving to obtain the Gaussian profile comprises:
• measure an angle of incidence of a central axis of the laser beam relative to a normal of the planar array;
• measure a positional offset of the planar array relative to a plane perpendicular to the central axis of the laser beam;
• create a projection of the plane in which the photodiodes are located onto the plane perpendicular to the central axis of the laser beam using a linear transformation based on the positional offset and angle of incidence to provide normalized linear slices;
• and
• construct the Gaussian profiles from the normalized linear slices;
• and
• determine the total laser power from the Gaussian profiles.