ISO 11146-2 specifies methods for measuring beam widths (diameter), divergence angles and beam propagation ratios of laser beams. ISO 11146-2 applies to general astigmatic beams or unknown types of beams.
Within ISO 11146-2, the description of laser beams is accomplished using the second-order moments of the Wigner distribution rather than physical quantities such as beam widths and divergence angles. However, these physical quantities are closely related to the second-order moments of the Wigner distribution.
ISO 11146-2 is useful for test methods of laser and laser-related equipment:
The theoretical description of beam characterization and propagation, as well as the classification of laser beams, is given in ISO 11146-2, which is a Technical Report. The procedures for background subtraction and offset correction are also given in ISO 11146-2.
The measurement methods for stigmatic and simple astigmatic beams while ISO 11146-2 deals with the measurement procedures for general astigmatic beams. ISO 11146-2 applies to beams of unknown type.
Three alternative methods for beam width measurement and their correlation with the method used in ISO 11146-2 are described. These methods are:
These methods described in ISO 11146-2 help you to evaluate the quality of your laser equipment.
BS EN ISO 11146-2:2021 supersedes BS EN ISO 11146-2:2005. BS EN ISO 11146-2:2021 includes some technical changes concerning BS EN ISO 11146-2:2005. These include:
ISO 11146-2
ENISO 11146-2