Talk:Laser beam quality

Equations (1) and (3) do not have M² in them. Therefore these two equations cannot be used to define M².

It is also mentioned that M² depends on the power of the laser beam. But I do not see any term in any of the equations that is related to power. chami 04:06, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Equations 1 and 3 are for an ideal Gaussian beam—the special case where M² = 1.

The equations tell you how to determine M² from measurements of a beam. They don't tell you how changing the laser power will degrade the beam quality.--Srleffler (talk) 07:03, 23 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You can only measure your M² at different output powers and compare the values. If M² increases your beam quality has degraded. The rate of degradation depends on many different factors such as absorption, gain saturation, filamentation, Doppler effects etc..., depending on the laser type and the medium where the light propagates. There is no single equation (yet) to express all phenomena properly. 62.141.180.6 (talk) 06:46, 12 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]