Calibration Service

There are three official calibration laboratories available worldwide for laser power meters and laser energy meters from Gentec-EO: one of them is located at Laser Components Germany GmbH in Olching (near Munich) as a central point of contact for customers from all over Europe. 

Laser Components’ scope of calibration service includes the following:

• Visual inspection (inspection of incoming goods)
• Determination of the individual wavelength  profile (all detectors)
• Calibration against the “gold standard” reference, traceable to the NIST (all detectors)
• Verification measurement
• Storage of the sensitivity value and correction factor in the detector’s EEPROM
• Calibration certificate including the variance report

Measurement Setup
Laser Components’ measurement setup is identical to that of the Canadian manufacturer’s. Gentec-EO carries out comparison calibrations on a regular basis between its own calibration laboratory in Canada and the calibration laboratory at LASER COMPONENTS Germany GmbH in Olching (the round-robin principle).

Traceability
Laser Components’ calibration service ensures traceability to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Physikalische Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) (Physical Technical Federal Institute). The calibration process includes the requirements of the ISO 17025.

Calibration Process
The calibration process is carried out with the aid of a laser source on a partially-automated measuring station directly against a “gold standard” detector. This reference detector is regularly calibrated at the NIST or PTB. Due to the exclusive application of a “gold standard” reference, LASER COMPONENTS achieves, as does Gentec-EO, unique precision in the calibration process (first-level calibration). Many other suppliers calibrate the detectors using only a “silver standard” detector (i.e., using a self-made and correspondingly imprecise “copy” of the “gold standard”) (second-level calibration).
As part of calibration, an individual wavelength profile is created for each detector with the help of a spectral photometer. The sensitivity and wavelength correction values determined are then stored in the EEPROM, which is contained in the connector of the detector.

Documentation
The results are documented on a detailed calibration certificate, on which the detector’s sensitivity determined during the previous calibration is also noted for purposes of comparison (variance report). As part of a recalibration, this documentation is carried out as a service free of charge.

Processing Time
All users located in Germany and the rest of Europe who use this laser measurement technology will enjoy the cost reduction and time advantage that this calibration service offers. There is no need to ship expensively  to Canada. The processing time of a calibration at LASER COMPONENTS typically lasts 5 to 7 working days.