Abstract

In the study of a powerful laser beam one faces a problem of measuring its intensity distribution over the laser beam cross section. A possible approach to the solution of this problem is to retrieve the intensity distribution I(ρ, t) from measurements of the temperature field T (ρ, t) upon heating a target surface by the laser radiation. The advent of devices designed for remote sensing of the surface temperature fields, in particular, thermal imaging systems providing for high spatial and temporal resolution of measurements, makes it possible to solve this problem. The theory of solving the inverse heat transfer problem for a uniform target irradiated with a nonuniform laser beam was reported.¹ This paper contains new theoretical and numerical results that could be applied when using a powerful large-diameter laser as a heater. The algorithms have been developed to retrieve the spatial and temporal intensity distribution based on the theory of generalized function.² The accuracy of algorithmic characteristics was estimated for the typical energy distribution.

© 1994 IEEE