Laser power meters

[Melgarh]

Heya!

I'm looking for a clarification on how to measure the laser output of my lasers as well as to stay on the safe side of things and measure MPE (no, not doing laser scanning, just home stuff and I've minor eye defect from my youth, would like to keep the eyes working as much as possible) for myself.

Done a bit of searching and looking for laser measurement tools and, naturally being an economy-type of guy, looking on how to do this on reasonable budget (if there is such a thing within this hobby!).

Which power meters do you folks use?

Would a laser power meter such as Sanwa Mobiken LP1 ( https://www.amazon.com/SANWA-Optical.../dp/B01BGTMZWY ) be OK and provide accurate data? Anything cheaper than that or is this as low as I can go while keeping things within "backpack" carry-on size? (couldn't find any info on Mobiken on this forum via search O.o)

Also found the Lasercheck Coherent laser power meter, looks the same like the one they sell on Kvant website, but its soooo tiny, does it actually give accurate data?

Thanks for your time, have a good day! =)
-Mel

[lasersbee]

The Link you provided to the Sanwa Mobiken LP1 shows that it is
an Optical Sensor LPM that requires an Optical Correction and can
only measure up to a Maximum of 40mW.

The Coherent LaserCheck is much better. It is also an Optical Sensor
LPM that can measure to a Maximum of 1000mW.
Here's a link to the specs....

http://www.gammadata.se/assets/Uploa...alogRevA-2.pdf

Jerry

[VDX]

... I've got an older Gentec TPM 300 meter with PS-330WB sensor in exchange of some old gear of mine:




It's measuring with a silicon sensor; wavelength range from 190nm to 10µm; min. average power 2mw, max. average power 45W for two minutes (30W continuous) ... max. peak power some ten to thosand MW/cm² (depending on wavelenth) with nanosecond-pulses ...

Viktor

[White-Light]

If you can afford it, the Thorlabs PM-100USB is pretty much unbeatable for taking MPE measurements when using eg an S302C head.

I say unbeatable, because it will display readings in mw/cm2 without the need to do any calculations. That said, the head won't take huge wattages so is less suitable for measuring laser power but very suitable for measuring MPE thanks to it's high sensitivity.