(NIST: Gaithersberg, MD) -- Lasers play roles in many manufacturing processes, from welding car parts to crafting engine components with 3D printers.* To control these tasks, manufacturers must ensure that their lasers fire at the correct power.

But to date, there has been no way to precisely measure laser power during the manufacturing process in real time, for example, while lasers are cutting or melting objects. Without this information, some manufacturers may have to spend more time and money assessing whether their parts meet manufacturing specifications after production.

To address this need, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have been developing a laser power sensor that could be built into manufacturing devices for real-time measurements. They present the results from their latest prototype in an October 2018 issue of IEEE Sensors.

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