- #1
BiGyElLoWhAt
Gold Member
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Not really sure if this should go here or in technology, but it's a physics class sooo...
we had to build a device to measure the power of a laser with an output of around 10mW or less.
I went with a differential gain amplifier using 2 thermistors, one of which is kept at ambient temperature and the other has the laser shone on it.
its built, and it works. The only problem I am having is that due to the fact that I'm measuring small lasers, it's extremely sensitive to things such as air currents in the room.
Mu question is this, is there a way for me to approximate the number of photons hitting my thermistor and a way to differentiate the ambient light from my laser ? I have a few ideas, most of which involve covering my thermistor, but I want to be able to account for the loss of photons and thus energy from my covering.
thanks
byh
we had to build a device to measure the power of a laser with an output of around 10mW or less.
I went with a differential gain amplifier using 2 thermistors, one of which is kept at ambient temperature and the other has the laser shone on it.
its built, and it works. The only problem I am having is that due to the fact that I'm measuring small lasers, it's extremely sensitive to things such as air currents in the room.
Mu question is this, is there a way for me to approximate the number of photons hitting my thermistor and a way to differentiate the ambient light from my laser ? I have a few ideas, most of which involve covering my thermistor, but I want to be able to account for the loss of photons and thus energy from my covering.
thanks
byh