摘要 |
The present invention is a scanning system and a novel method for compensating for the variations in the output power of the beam from an A-O cell. The novel method involves varying the amount of drive current through the laser diode in such a fashion as to compensate for the loss of power due to diffraction inefficiencies. The amount of driving current is dependent upon the amount of power desired in the output beam from the A-O cell. The system and method of the present invention sets the output power from the A-O cell to a desired value. As the diffraction efficiency increases at other portions of the scan, the drive current is cut appropriately to compensate for the increased efficiency; thus keeping the output spot power at the desired value. Likewise, as the diffraction efficiency decreases at other portions of the scan, the drive current should be increased to compensate for the decrease in efficiency; thereby maintaining the desired value.
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