Optics & Laser Technology 43 (2011) 451460

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Optics & Laser Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/optlastec

Automation of CO2 laser output power measurement as a function of the

absorber gas pressure in a cell located inside or outside the laser cavity
C. Weiss n, S. Aghabi
Atomic Energy Commission of Syria, P.O. Box 6091, Damascus, Syria

a r t i c l e in fo

abstract

Article history:
Received 20 December 2009
Received in revised form
10 February 2010
Accepted 23 June 2010
Available online 17 July 2010

The automation of CO2 laser output power measurement is discussed in this paper as a function of the
absorber gas pressure in a cell located inside or outside the laser cavity. A manually tunable laser was
used which can be operated in one of about 44 different laser lines aligned by the user and registered
respectively by the acquisition program for further analysis.
The voltages representing the absorber gas pressure and the output power were very small (a few
hundred mV), therefore a proper voltage amplication circuit was designed to amplify the analog
outputs of both the pressure meter and the laser output power meter. These amplied signals were
then applied directly to a PCI-9112 ADLINK data acquisition card using a personal computer (PC).
A suitable controlling program using LabVIEW graphical programming language was written to
measure the pressure and laser power signals, draw the relationship between them and save the results
for later processing and analysis; such as, gas absorbance coefcient a, mean absorption cross section s
calculations that can be applied in many areas such as molecular spectroscopy and environmental
pollution studies.
& 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
CO2 laser
Pirani
LabVIEW

1. Introduction
As known, CO2 lasers are widely implemented in scientic,
medical and industrial applications; for example, in infrared
radar, surgery, spectroscopy, welding and material processing.
That is mainly because of their interesting features such as good
frequency selection, relatively narrow bandwidth, relatively highpower and high efciency. Generally, the CO2 laser output power
and efciency depend on many factors such as gas pressure,
applied voltage and the dissociation of CO2 to CO molecules [1].
Recently, computers have entered the world of physical
experiments in a very decisive way. However, while researchers
are using them frequently as a tool, they still design and run the
experiments by themselves. In a computer-based physical
experiment, the computer obeys the controlling program instructions to collect and record the generated data through some sort
of interfacing, and can be used to analyze the obtained data, carry
out necessary calculations and nally present and save the results
in different forms [2].
From the time of its invention, the laser power meter was
generally comprised of two parts: a measurement head and a
display box. It was always considered better to have such an
arrangement with a cable connecting the two because of the
hazardous nature of the laser beam. Nowadays the PC is an
indispensable part of the ofce and the laboratory, and it is

Corresponding author. Tel.: +963 11 2132580; fax: + 963 11 6112289.

E-mail address: scientic4@aec.org.sy (C. Weiss).

0030-3992/$ - see front matter & 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.optlastec.2010.06.008

important to be able to integrate measuring instruments directly

to the PC, particularly instruments that can gather large volumes
of data.
The connection of the laser power and energy sensor with a PC
results in a powerful system. The software application packages
the power monitoring applications easily, with a complete set of
statistical analysis, graphics display, and data storage functions.
LabVIEW solutions are offered to those who want to tailor-make a
solution that best integrates into their test and measurement
system. Software is available that can turn the PC into a fullblown laser test station [3].
Automation of laser power and pressure measurements gives a
great benet to researchers, because it simplies the process,
shortens the time needed for calculation and consequently
increases the accuracy.
Because of the difculties faced when taking measurements by
reading the meters manually, especially given the fast changes in
the pressure and output laser power, the automation process is
vital in interfacing the meters analog outputs into the PC (after
being conditioned and amplied) for acquisition, analysis,
presentation and saving.

2. Experimental setup
At the start of the experiment, the laser is turned on after
evacuating the absorption cell to reach a vacuum of about
10  2 mbar or less.

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C. Weiss, S. Aghabi / Optics & Laser Technology 43 (2011) 451460

The used laser system in this work is described in more details

elsewhere in [4].
The setting of the studied laser line in order to get the highest
possible laser power value is made manually using a diffraction
grating located on a rotating base, as a part of the laser resonator
to make the proper optical alignment, with the use of CO2
spectrum analyzer device from Optical engineering& to show
the obtained laser line wavelength and number.
The laser power value is then attenuated by gradually
pumping the absorber gas inside the absorption cell, which
results in a continuous decrease in laser power until it vanishes
with the increase of the absorber gas pressure.
For the duration of the experiment, the values of laser power
and absorber gas pressure are recorded and graphed.
Laser power and pressure are measured using the MD10 power
meter from SCIENTECH& and the PIZA1000 pressure meter from
ILMVAC&. Fig. 1 illustrates the assembled system.
2.1. The controlled equipment
2.1.1. Laser power meter Mentor MD10
MD10 measures the power of the incoming laser and displays
the result on a digital numerical display. This meter is equipped
with an analog output factory-adjusted to give 100 mV for the
meters full range. This output is proportional to the laser power
for the whole measurement range.
The measurements full range used in this experiment is 20 W.
Therefore, the proportional relationship between the laser power
and the analog output signal to be used in the controlling program
is as follows [5]:
1 mV3200 mW

2.1.2. Pressure meter PIZA 1000

PIZA1000 has a wide range of connection possibilities, and can
deal with different types of vacuum transmitters that can depend
on Piezo, Pirani scales or both of them. This meter has a separate
analog output for each of its two measuring techniques (Piezo and
Pirani), these two outputs can be used for automation purposes.

vacuum integrated inside the transmitter body. These

transmitters, measure the gas pressure, regardless of its
type or concentration. And gives a linear relation between
output voltage and pressure.
J The thermal conductivity measuring technique (Pirani):
This technique measures the gas thermal conductivity
and ensures wide measuring range and high accuracy and
stability.
The transmitter used with the PIZA1000 in this experiment
is a Dual Trans transmitter, which incorporates the two
measuring techniques in one transmitter. This combination
gives us a transmitter with a wide measuring range, more
than 8 decades, from 2 bars down to 10  5 mbar. This
transmitter has two separate measuring circuits and gives
two separate analog outputs for both Pirani and Piezo [6]
(see Table 1).
The Piezo measuring circuit works in the range 5 mbar2 bar and
gives linear analog output in the range 02 V and the transfer
ratio used in the controlling program according to the datasheet is
1 mV31 mbar

 The Micro-Pirani measuring circuit works in the range

1  10  55 mbar and gives a nonlinear analog output in the
range 010 V; this signal can be transferred easily to a pressure
value using the following equation that has 5 coefcients that
differ according to the measured gas type:
p

1
C0 1=C1  U C2  U 2 C3  U 3 C6  U 6

where U is the output voltage (in V) and p is gas pressure (in

mbar).
The coefcient values for the atmospheric air at 55% relative
humidity are given by Table 2 [6]:
The above equation was used later in the automation program
in the Pirani range of pressure measurement.

Table 1
Dual trans transmitter specications.

2.1.2.1. Vacuum transmitters

 PIZA1000 uses two different transmitter measuring techniques:

J

The absolute measuring technique (Piezo): This technique

measures the vacuum in accordance with a reference

Measuring range
Output voltage micro-Pirani
Output voltage Piezo

Min

Max

Unit

1  10  5
0
0

2000
10
2

mbar
V
V

CO2
Spectrum
Analyzer
MD10
Laser
power
meter
PIZA 1000
Pressure
meter

Fig. 1. The automation system for the measurements of laser CO2 vs. absorber gas pressure.

C. Weiss, S. Aghabi / Optics & Laser Technology 43 (2011) 451460

453

Table 2
Atmospheric air coefcients.
Atmospheric air constants
 0.0278168
0.1371869
0.0602274
0.0148662
0.0000121

C0
C1
C2
C3
C6

Fig. 3. Icon and connector.

519 k R2

1 K R4

100n

7
R1

3
OP177

ANALOG OUT
J1

BF245
3
1
Q1
2

U1
-

100n

3
OP177

+
U2
-

C3

Ch2 (DAQ Connector-Pin3)

C5

100n

R3
2K

11.5 K

C4
7

30p C1

C2

+15V

1N4148
D1

+15V

1 K R5

100n

-15V

-15V

Laser Power Meter

3
Pin 5 (Pressure Connector)

OP177

+
U3

100n

+15V
C8
7

C6

1 K R10

1N4148
D2

+15V

30p

15.4 K

1 K R8
C10

61.9 k R7

R6

BF245
3
1
Q2
2

3
OP177

100n

U4

C7

C9

100n

R9
2K

Pin 8 (Pressure Connector)

Ch1 (DAQ Connector-Pin2)

100n

-15V

-15V

Piezo Pressure Analog OUT

Ch0 (DAQ Connector-Pin2)
Ch1 (DAQ Connector-Pin2)
Ch2 (DAQ Connector-Pin2)

1 2 3 4
1 K R11

1 K R12

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

DAQ Connector

Pin 2 (Pressure Connector)

+
U5

Pirani Pressure Analog OUT

BF245
3
1
Q3
2

3
OP177

+
U6

4
-15V

C12
100n

100n

C14
R13
2K

3
OP177

100n

C13
7

Pressure Connector

+15V

1N4148
D3

C11

30p

+15V

C15

5 6 7 8

100n
-15V

Fig. 2. Electronic diagram of the analog signals amplier circuit.

Ch0 (DAQ Connector-Pin1)

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C. Weiss, S. Aghabi / Optics & Laser Technology 43 (2011) 451460

 It is essential to separate the laser power ground from the

2.2. Amplication circuit

An amplication circuit was designed for the meters analog
outputs signals to be received and measured properly by the
PCI-9112 DAQ card.
Fig. 2 illustrates the detailed electronic diagram for this circuit.
The following considerations must be taken into account when
dealing with this circuit:

 The part dedicated for laser power signal amplication gives a



good coincidence between the meter and the PC readings

within the range of 202750 mW.
Waiting for 15 min before starting measurements is essential
for the ampliers and meters in order for the readings to be
stabilized.

mains ground using a proper separator in order to avoid the

ground loop effects that seriously disturb the measurement
accuracy which can be clearly seen when power goes below
120 mW.
2.3. Experimental and mathematical automated procedures
Measuring the values of laser power on a taken wavelength
and absorber gas pressure using one of the two pressure
transmitters (Piezo or Pirani) can build an array between them
in order to:

 Plot a graph for their relationship.

 Calculate the gas absorbance coefcient (a) for each measured
laser power value according to Pierre Lambert law:

1
P0
 ln
L
P

where P is the Laser power value, P0 the maximum laser power

value during the experiment, L the cell length (cm) and a the gas
absorbance coefcient (cm  1).
Then build a array and plot a graph for its relationship with
absorber gas pressure.
Calculate the absorption cross section (s) measured in cm2
according to the following equation:

0:41  1016  a
p

where p is the gas pressure value (mbar).

Then build s array and calculate the mean absorption cross
section value for the experiment.
2.4. (PCI-9112) data acquisition card (DAQ) [7]

Fig. 4. Program Splash screen.

The used 32-bit PCI-based data acquisition card is PCI-9112

multifunction DAS card from ADLINK which has the following
advanced features:

Fig. 5. Measurement process.

C. Weiss, S. Aghabi / Optics & Laser Technology 43 (2011) 451460

Fig. 6. End of measurements (absorber cell inside the laser cavity).

Fig. 7. Laser power vs. pressure (absorber cell outside the laser cavity).

Fig. 8. Gas absorption coefcient vs. pressure (absorber cell outside the laser cavity).

455

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C. Weiss, S. Aghabi / Optics & Laser Technology 43 (2011) 451460

2.4.1. Analog inputs (A/D)

 Converter: ADS774, successive approximation type

J
J
J

Resolution: 12-bit
Three A/D trigger modes: software trigger, programmable
pacer trigger, and external pulse trigger.
Conversion Time: 8 ms

 Number of input channels: 16 single ended or 8 differential

 Input range: (Programmable)
Bipolar: 710 V, 75 V, 72.5 V, 71.25 V, 70.625 V
Unipolar: 010 V, 05 V, 02.5 V, 01.25 V
Throughput: 110 kHz multiplexing (maximum)
Programmable gain control (  0.5,  1,  2,  4,  8).
J
J




Fig. 9. Laser power vs. pressure (left) and absorption coefcient (a) vs. pressure (right), for 5 experiments of laser line 9R (14) (where the absorber cell is located outside
the laser cavity).

Fig. 10. Laser power vs. pressure (left) and P/P0 vs. pressure (right), for ve experiments of laser line 9P (22) (where absorber cell is located inside the laser cavity).

Fig. 11. Laser power vs. pressure graphs for three different laser lines: 9P (10), 9P (12), 9P (14) (absorber gas: Freon CFC-11).

C. Weiss, S. Aghabi / Optics & Laser Technology 43 (2011) 451460

2.4.2. Analog outputs (D/A):

 Numbers of output channels: 2 double buffered 12-bit resolution.

2.4.3. Digital I/O (DIO)

 Number of channels: 32 TTL compatible (16 inputs and 16

outputs)
2.4.4. Programmable timers/counters

457

Pirani, Piezo pressure, and laser power analog output signals

were connected, after being amplied, to ch0, ch1, and ch2 analog
inputs, respectively. These channels were hardware jumpered as
unipolar, single ended and software programmed using gain
control to work in the range of 010 V.
The A/D converter was internally triggered using the prementioned 32-bit pacer timer. Sampling rate was programmed in
a way that the scanning for the three channels does not exceed
the maximum 110 kHz limit.
3. Software section

 Timer/counter device: 8254.

 A/D pacer timer: 32-bit timer (two 16-bit cascaded together)

3.1. LabVIEW programming language

Laboratory Virtual Instrument Electronic Workbench (LabVIEW)
differs from other text programming languages (C, Pascal, Basic, etc.)

with a 2 MHz time base.

 Counter: One 16-bit counter.

Fig. 12. a vs. pressure graphs for three different laser lines: 9P (14), 9P (16), 9P (18) (absorber gas: Freon CFC-11).

Start

Operation Mode.vi
Select Operation Mode
EXIT
Retrieve Data
New Measurement.vi

NO

Retrieve data.vi

RETURN

YES
Flow Chart 1. Main power vs. pressure.

Exit to WINDOWS

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C. Weiss, S. Aghabi / Optics & Laser Technology 43 (2011) 451460

in its graphical structure. It depends on graphical icons connected in

a certain way to build instructions in a block diagram shape.
A program written in LabVIEW is called VI: Virtual Instrument because its shape and function simulate a real instrument.
The designed VI consists of three main parts.
3.1.1. Front panel
The interactive user interface (similar to the front panel of a
real instrument) contains functions to accomplish a certain duties
(push buttons, knobs, toggle, etc.) or (Graph, Charts) or Logical
Operations. And these duties can be either Controls (program
inputs) or Indicators (program outputs).

3.2. Automation program description

The program splash screen, illustrated in Fig. 4, asks the user to
choose between three different options:

 Start new measurement.

 Retrieve data.
 Exit the program.
3.2.1. New measurement
Choosing new measurement allows the user to enter the
following parameters for the experiment:

3.1.2. Block diagram

The VI graphical source code is built in the block diagram using
controls/indicators terminals, nodes and programming structures.

 Band and branch No.: There are two types of laser bands:
10.6 and 9.6mm, determined by band number. Each band
has two branches (P and R) determined by branch number.
So, nally we get four branches (9P, 9R, 10P, 10R), each
containing 11 different laser lines. According to this selection,
the program displays the laser line wavelength and wave
number.

3.1.3. Icon and connector

Each VI written in LabVIEW has its own icon and connector to
show its inputs and outputs (Fig. 3).

START

Select Absorber Cell Location & Length , Laser Band and Branch, Used Gas Type, Sampling Rate and No. of Readings

Start
Measurement
Pressed?

NO

YES
Acquire Laser Power, Pressure &
Simultaneous Display on Graph
NO
NO
YES

Save Results?

Stop
Measurement
Pressed?

Save Results

NO

Return
pressed?

YES
RETURN TO MAIN VI

YES
Show Graph

NO
NO

Power vs.
Pressure
Selected?

Power vs. Pirani

Selected?

YES

YES

Display Power vs. Pressure

Display Power vs. Pressure

Flow Chart 2. New measurement.

vs. Pressure
Selected?
YES

YES
Display Power vs. Pressure

NO
Power vs. Piezo
Selected?

Display
vs. Pressure

NO

C. Weiss, S. Aghabi / Optics & Laser Technology 43 (2011) 451460

 Absorber cell length.

 Absorber cell position (intra/outer cavity).
 Absorber gas type.

459

 Sampling rate and number of readings/s.

During the measurement, the online values of power and
pressure and the graphical relation between them are displayed.

Start

No
No
Is OK pressed?

Is single Line
tagged?

Yes

Is Multiline
tagged?

No

Is Cancel
pressed?

Yes

Yes

Yes
Go to
Main Power vs. Pressure.vi

Is Multiline
tagged?

No

No

Execute Multiline VI
(Band display.vi)

Yes
Untag first tagged option
(single line or multiline)

Choose Graph Mode

Multiline
tagged?

No

Select Power vs.

Pressure Graph

Yes

Select a vs. Pressure

Graph

Open a folder for a selected band (9P, 9R, 10P, 10R)

At c:\laserPower\......\bands

Execute
Single Line graph.vi

Select Files from the selected folder ( up to 11 files)

Choose Graph Mode

Display Selected files on the selected Graph
(Power or a vs. Pressure)
Select Power vs.
Pressure Graph

Select P/P0 vs.

Pressure Graph

Select a vs. Pressure

Graph
Is right Mouse
clicked?

Enter No. of Files ( Up to 5 files)

No
Yes
Select file Names
No

No
Is Cancel
pressed?

Is OK
pressed?

No

Export simplified
image.bmp

Is Exit clicked?

Choose save to
clipboard or save to
file

Yes
Go to
Main Laser p vs.p..vi

Yes
Yes

Display Selected Files on Selected Graph

No

Is Cancel
pressed?

Select Best fitted graph to be saved

for Multiline process

Is Save
pressed?
Select proper path to save image
At c:\laserPower\......\images

Yes

Is Cancel
pressed?

No

save image
Yes

Go to
Main Laser p vs.p..vi

Flow Chart 3. Retrieve data.

Is Exit clicked?

No

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C. Weiss, S. Aghabi / Optics & Laser Technology 43 (2011) 451460

In addition, a red or green LED is illuminated to indicate Piezo/

Pirani sensor usage respectively. (see Fig. 5)
At the end of the measurement process the nal power vs.
pressure graph appears together with the values of maximum
laser power (P0) and mean absorption cross section (s), as shown
in Fig. 6.
Before returning back to the program splash screen, the user
can choose the following options:

 Display the graph of full laser power vs. pressure.

 Display the graph of laser power vs. pressure (in the Pirani
range).

 Display the graph of laser power vs. pressure (in the Piezo
range).

 Display the graph of gas absorption coefcient vs. pressure.

 Save the values of measured results in an ASCII le for further
display and analysis.

 Save any of the above mentioned graphs as a *.bmp le.Figs. 7

and 8 show the saved bmp graphs for laser power vs. pressure,
gas absorption coefcient vs. pressure respectively for laser
line 10P(24).

3.2.2. Retrieve data

The user can choose to retrieve data for either a single laser
line or multiple laser lines in a single branch (up to 11) for
comparison purposes.

4. Results and discussions

4.1. Single laser line results display
The user can display the results of up to ve experiments for
the same laser line, in order to choose the best tting graph and
store it as reference for this line to deal with in the multi-lines
display section. The user can choose to display:

 Power vs. pressure.

 Power to maximum power P/P0 ratio vs. pressure.
 Gas absorption coefcient vs. pressure.
Fig. 9 displays the laser power vs. pressure and the absorption
coefcient (a) vs. pressure for laser line 9R (14) for CFC-11
absorber gas for a cell located outside the laser cavity, while
Fig. 10 displays the laser power vs. pressure and P/P0 vs. pressure
for laser line 9P(22) for a cell located inside the laser cavity.
The results indicate a decrease in laser power output due to
the increase of the absorber gas pressure (CFC-11).
4.2. Multi-laser lines results display (up to 11 lines for each branch)
The user can display power vs. pressure graphs or a vs.
pressure graphs of up to 11 different laser lines located in one
branch. Figs. 11 and 12 display some examples carried out outside
the laser cavity.
The results indicate that different lines have different behaviors in the absorbance process, which means that CFC-11 have
strong absorbance for some laser lines in comparison with others
according to the wavelength of each line.
Those results enable the researcher to determine the absorption coefcient variations with pressure for each studied line.

5. Program hierarchy
The following ow charts represent the various steps of the
program:

 Main program (Flowchart 1).

 Start new measurement (Flowchart 2).
 Retrieve stored data (Flowchart 3).
6. Conclusion
The automation of a manually tunable CO2 laser experiment
according to absorber gas pressure in a cell located inside or
outside laser cavity enabled the researcher to carry out these
measurements for about 44 different laser lines.
The overall performance of the automated experiment has
shown a good and reliable performance without any serious
failure over more than 2 months of operation.
In addition, the quality of the recorded data is quite precise
due to error elimination involved in the digital data handling
compared to conventional manual measurements. Moreover, the
experiment automation enables handling a massive amount of
data at high rates of about 4 K samples/s.
The advantages of the automation process can be summarized
as follows:

 Effective signal amplication circuit design.

 High accuracy in the measurement of the physical parameters


(power and pressure) due to the use of a good quality data

acquisition card (PCI-9112 ADLINK).
Effective control program written using LabVIEW to measure
the pressure and laser power signals, draw the relationship
between them and save the results for later processing and
analysis; such as, gas absorbance coefcient a, mean absorption cross section s calculations that can be applied in many
areas such as molecular spectroscopy and environmental
pollution studies.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to
Dr. Ibrahim Othman, General director of the Syrian Atomic
Energy Commission for his continuous support, guidance and
encouragement; and Dr. Ali Al-Mohamad, the Head of Scientic
Services Department and Dr. Shraif Al-Hawatt, the researcher
in Physics department, for their help in accomplishing this
project.
References
[1] Soukieh M, Abdul Ghani B, Hammadi M. Frontiers in lasers and electrooptics research. New York: Nova Science Publishers Inc.; 2006. 290 p
[Chapter 7].
[2] Chakrabarti Bhupati. Computers and physics experiments. Current Science
2006;91(3).
[3] Ilan Haber. Power and energy meters: from sensors to PC. Ophir Optronics Ltd,
Laser measurement instruments web site, /http://www.ophiropt.com/laser-mea
surement-instruments/laser-power-energy-meters/tutorial/from-sensors-to-pcS.
[4] Al-Hawat S, Saloum S, Zidan MD. Absorption of CO2 laser emission by freon-12.
Applied Physics B 2004;78:43942.
[5] SCIENTECH. MENTOR Laser Power and Energy Measurement System. Type
MD10, Setup and Operating Procedures.
[6] LMVAC. Multi-range vacuum gauge. Type PIZA 1000, operation manual.
[7] ADLINK: NuDAQ/NuIPC 9112 series multi-function DAS cards for PCI/3U
CompactPCI users guide. ADLINK PCI/CompactPCI DAQ cards software
installation guide. PCIS-LVIEW, LabVIEW interface of NuDAQ PCI cards,
Windows 98/NT/2000/XP (function reference and users guide).