Accuracy control of three-dimensional Nd:YAG laser shaping by ablation

Beam width measurements of multi-mode asymmetric laser beams delivered by a XeCl laser, have been carried out in the focal plane of a lens, by the knife-edge and the variable rectangular aperture technique, respectively to determine beam divergence. It is shown that both methods provide beam width measurements in satisfactory agreement within experimental errors by properly choosing the clip levels. The analytical treatment for the clip level selection is also reported.