A deep neural network (NN) is used to simultaneously detect laser beams in images and measure their center coordinates, radii and angular orientations. A dataset of images containing simulated laser beams and a dataset of images with experimental laser beams, generated using a spatial light modulator, are used to train and evaluate the NN. After training on the simulated dataset the NN achieves beam parameter rootmean-square-errors (RMSEs) of less than 3.4% on the experimental dataset. Subsequent training on the experimental dataset causes the RMSEs to fall below 1.1%. The NN method can be used as a stand-alone measurement of the beam parameters or can compliment other beam profiling methods by providing an accurate region-of-interest.
@article{arxiv.2202.07801,
title = {Measuring Laser Beams with a Neural Network},
author = {Lucas R. Hofer and Milan Krstajić and Robert P. Smith},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2202.07801},
year = {2022}
}