Measurement and numerical simulation of the power distribution of CO2 laser

In order to obtain the analytic expression for CO2 laser power distribution,the power distribution of a CO2 laser was measured with thermal paper at the different heights and output power.The experiment images of the laser spot were processed with MATLAB,and a numerical model of laser power distribution was built up and compared with the experimental spot.The obtained analytic expression was verified with the measurement results in laser heat treatment experiments and calculation results of temperature field.The experimental results were in good agreement with the theoretical calculation.The results show that it is feasible to measure the laser power distribution with thermal paper,and it is practical to calculate the power distribution based on the analytic expressions.