Identification and correction of weld paths using optical coherence tomography

A laser welding system for welding a workpiece, comprising:

• a laser source configured to emit processing laser radiation;
• an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system that includes an imaging light source configured to emit imaging light, the OCT system configured to receive reflected imaging light from the workpiece and generate an interferometric output based at least in part on the reflected imaging light;
• a laser head configured to direct processing laser radiation and a beam of the imaging light onto the workpiece;
• at least one scanner configured to direct the beam of the imaging light along at least one measurement weld path on the workpiece, the at least one measurement weld path based at least in part on a reference weld path on the workpiece;
• and
• at least one controller configured to:
• receive data corresponding to the reference weld path on the workpiece;
• generate a corrected weld path based at least in part on a comparison between the interferometric output of the at least one measurement weld path and the reference weld path;
• and
• control the laser head such that the processing laser radiation is directed along the corrected weld path on the workpiece.