Portable Electrostatic Force Balance for Laser Power Metrology

A new paradigm in laser power metrology has recently evolved. The measurement of photon pressure forces from the reflection of a laser from a high reflectivity mirror provides a means to quantify optical power in a fashion similar to methods used to realize the mass unit in the redefined SI. Because...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Shaw, Gordon A., Seifert, Frank, Pratt, Jon R., Newell, David B., Schlamminger, Stephan
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Electrostatic measurements
Electrostatics
Force
Force measurement
laser ablation
laser cutting
lasers
Measurement by laser beam
Photonics
Power lasers
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A new paradigm in laser power metrology has recently evolved. The measurement of photon pressure forces from the reflection of a laser from a high reflectivity mirror provides a means to quantify optical power in a fashion similar to methods used to realize the mass unit in the redefined SI. Because photon pressure forces are typically quite small, an electrostatic force balance (EFB) can be effectively used to interconvert between force and laser power within the International System of Units (SI). In this work, a portable version of the EFB is constructed and tested. The balance will be used to measure a photon pressure equivalent to 10 kilowatts of laser power (approximately 60 micronewtons) with an uncertainty on the order of 0.01%. A preliminary demonstration shows sufficient resolution for the required application.
ISSN:2160-0171
DOI:10.1109/CPEM49742.2020.9191847