Red Machine Vision Laser Focus with an elliptical beam profile

The laser diode beam sources series 13M/13MM and 5M produce a elliptical laser spot.

13M/13MM vs. 5M
The laser diode beam source series 13M produces an elliptical laser spot with elliptical Gaussian intensity distribution. The laser diode beam source series 13MM produces an often circular (sometimes slightly elliptical) laser spot with extended depth of focus. The beam profile is approx. Gaussian. More precisely it has an elliptical intensity distribution clipped by a circular aperture.

The compact Laser Focus Generator series 5M produces an elliptical laser spot with elliptical Gaussian intensity distribution.

Micro and Macro lasers
The lasers of series 13M and 5M are Laser Micro Focus Generators designed to produce spots with small spot size. They have a small depth of focus (in this case the depth of focus is the Rayleigh range). Laser Macro Focus Generators like the corresponding lasers of series 13MM have common basic optical features but are designed to generate laser spots with an extended depth of focus.

Electronics
The lasers have integrated electronics for control of the laser output power. The output power can be controlled using the modulation input ports (TTL and analog) or manually using the potentiometer. Optionally the lasers can be equipped with RS232 serial interface for laser control and data read-out. Please note that the compact version 5M has different electronic features and is not available with RS232 interface.

Adjusting the working distance
For lasers of series 13M/13MM, and 5M the working distance can be adjusted by adjusting the focus setting. Please note that the spot diameter increases proportionally to the working distance. A fine-adjustment of the distance between laser and target is recommended for fine-focusing in order to achieve minimal spot size.

Optional: Low Noise Version
The laser series 13M/13MM is also available as a Low Noise version LNC-13M (Micro), LNC-13MM (Macro). These lasers are low noise (typ. < 0.15% of P_o (RMS, Bandwidth < 1 MHz)) and operate mode-hopping free. Due to the reduced coherence length the speckle contrast is lowered. However this effect is smaller for smaller lines and spots. (Po is the maximum specified output power.)

These high quality lasers can e.g. be used for machine vision applications.