Patent ID: 8686331

Claim:
A laser system, comprising: a laser source, the laser source configured for generating and emitting light; a beam sampling device, the beam sampling device being operationally coupled with the laser source; a beam diagnostics system, the beam diagnostics system being operationally coupled with the beam sampling device, the beam diagnostics system being configured for receiving the sampled portion of the emitted light and measuring a current state of a parameter of the sampled portion of the emitted light; and a beam correction system, the beam correction system being operationally coupled with the beam diagnostics system, the beam correction system being configured for obtaining the measured state from the beam diagnostics system, comparing the measured state of the parameter against a desired state of the parameter for the emitted light and providing a correction to the laser system based upon said comparing, the beam correction system including a set of correction optics disposed between one or more degrading optical elements acting to degrade the emitted light and the beam sampling device, the beam sampling device being configured for selectively sampling a portion of the emitted light upon exiting the one or more degrading optical elements and the set of correction optics.