Compact Instrument for Measuring Profile of a Light Beam

The beamviewer is an optical device designed to be attached to a charge-coupled-device (CCD) image detector for measuring the spatial distribution of intensity of a beam of light (the "beam profile ") at a designated plane intersecting the beam. The beamviewer-and-CCD combination is particularly well suited for measuring the radiant-power profile (for a steady beam) or the radiant-energy profile (for a pulsed beam) impinging on the input face or emerging from the output face of a bundle of optical fibers. The beamviewer-and-CCD combination could also be used as a general laboratory instrument for profiling light beams, including beams emerging through small holes and laser beams in free space.