Rapid Beam Measuring in Several Planes

Apparatus for the determination of spatial dimensions of a light beam, comprising

• a beam scanner;
• at least one light sensor;
• a movement device for the execution of a relative movement between the light beam and the beam scanner;
• and
• sensor;
• wherein the beam scanner comprises at least one scanning body with at least three sampling areas;
• wherein the sampling areas
• have an extent along sampling lines that is greater than the extent of the sampling areas transversely to the sampling lines by at least a factor of ten;
• are configured for the extraction of linear or strip-shaped light samples from cross-sections of the light beam;
• and
• have a transverse distance from one another that, in a projection of the sampling areas on a plane perpendicular to the axis of the light beam, is greater along a track of the light beam formed by the relative movement than a diameter of the light beam in the range of the light beam to be scanned;
• wherein several scanning surfaces are defined by the sampling lines of the sampling areas, each spanned by a movement vector of the relative movement;
• wherein at least three scanning surfaces have a non-zero distance from one another in the direction of the axis of the light beam;
• and
• wherein the light sensor is configured for the detection of at least a portion of the sampled light of the light samples extracted by the sampling areas from the cross-sections of the light beam.

Method for the determination of spatial dimensions of a light beam, comprising the following method steps:

• executing a relative movement between a beam scanner and the light beam by means of a movement device;
• extraction of linear or strip-shaped light samples from several cross-sections of the light beam by means of several sampling areas, wherein the beam scanner comprises at least one scanning body with at least three sampling areas;
• detection of at least a portion of the sampled light of the light samples extracted by the sampling areas from the cross-sections of the light beam by means of a light sensor;
• recording of a temporally variable signal of the light sensor by means of a device for signal recording;
• wherein the sampling areas have an extent along sampling lines that is greater by at least a factor of ten than the extent of the sampling areas transversely to the sampling lines;
• wherein the sampling areas have a transverse distance from one another that, in a projection of the sampling areas on a plane perpendicular to the axis of the light beam, is greater along a track of the light beam formed by the relative movement than a diameter of the light beam in the range of the light beam to be scanned;
• wherein several scanning surfaces are defined by the sampling lines of the sampling areas, each spanned by a movement vector of the relative movement;
• and
• wherein at least three scanning surfaces have a non-zero distance from one another in the direction of the axis of the light beam.