Ultrafine Gaussian Waist Measurement and Control
Astigmatic Gaussian beam propagation analysis with real-time alignment and multi-axis beam waist characteristics inspection.
Purpose
Modern Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) tools rely on ultraprecise analysis of laser beam deflection from a cantilever probe for nanoscale feature and defect detection. Customers designing state-of-the-art AFM tooling, require precisely focused laser beams with tightly controlled profiles and well-characterized astigmatic waist behavior.
Our Approach
To meet exacting optical precision at sub-10 µm spot sizes, Diode Laser Concepts created a manufacturing alignment platform with Ultrafine Gaussian Waist Measurement and Control which ensures consistent optical performance unit-to-unit. Complete multi-axis spot size and beam waist behavior data is acquired throughout the product’s Gaussian beam Rayleigh range and is compared to performance metrics in real-time.
Technology & Process
- High performance linear stage with submicron translation resolution.
- Scanning slit beam profiler with 1.8µm slit width yielding 1/e2 beam width measurement capability down to 7µm.
- Automated GUI rapidly determines approximate beam waist location at lower resolution.
- High resolution data acquisition is performed through the Rayleigh range of each astigmatic axis.
- Beam waist evolution and spot sizes data is evaluated in real-time relative to product performance pass/fail criteria.
- Performance data sheet exported per unit and provided to the customer.
Applications
- Semiconductor processing
- Medical device manufacturing
- Micromachining
- Fluorescence microscopy, spectroscopy, microfluidics