Hartmann-Shack wave front measurements for real time determination of laser beam propagation parameters

The suitability of the Hartmann-Shack technique for the determination of the propagation parameters of a laser beam is faced against the well known caustic approach according to the ISO 11146 standard. A He-Ne laser (543 nm) was chosen as test beam, both in its fundamental mode as well as after intentional distortion, introducing a moderate amount of spherical aberration. Results are given for the most important beam parameters M-2, divergence, and beam widths, indicating an agreement of better than 10% and for adapted beam diameter < 5%. Furthermore, the theoretical background, pros and cons, as well as some features of the software implementation for the Hartmann-Shack sensor are briefly reviewed. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.