The M 2 factor, also called the beam quality factor or beam propagation factor, is a widely used quantitative measure for the beam quality of a laser beam. What is the M 2 value of an ideal laser beam? How does the M 2 factor affect focusing a laser beam? How is the M 2 factor of a laser beam measured? Can the M 2 factor be different for the horizontal and vertical directions? How can one predict the propagation of a non-ideal laser beam? What are. Nevertheless, M² is a simple, widely-used metric for characterizing laser beams. import sys import numpy as np import matplotlib. Helium neon lasers typically have an M 2 factor that is less than 1. For high-energy. What Siegman proposed is to use a dimensionless value for laser beam quality, by dividing a real laser's BPP with the one from an ideal laser. We therefore obtain a ratio that indicates how close your laser beam is to the perfect Gaussian beam, and Siegman called this value M 2 (pronounced. The “M squared Laser Beam” source type models a laser based on its M2 factor, also known as beam quality or beam propagation factor.
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