NIST Traceable Calibration Program

Macken Instruments power probe calorimeters are NIST traceable and as the OEM can only be re-calibrated by Macken Instruments.

All new probes are factory calibrated and can be obtained with full NIST traceable calibration certificates.

Annually thereafter, the probe should be re-calibrated

Any probe during the calibration process that results in a tolerance higher than +/-5% is rejected and the customer will be advised. Surface coating damage is most common reason for calibration rejections.

Calibration Practice:

Low power meters (≤ 500W) are calibrated on the Coherent CO₂ laser. High power meters (> 500W) are calibrated on the Rofin CO₂ laser. For YAG power meters, an additional set of measurements using a YAG laser to measure the reflectance of the power meter coating is used to calibrate for a power reading at 1064nm.

Macken Instruments performs two levels of calibrations. The base level is a 'factory calibration.' Here, three CO₂ measurements are taken with the test probe, normally at ~25%, ~50%, and ~75% of the meter's full scale. For two sided power meters, the first and third measurements are taken with the laser incident upon side 1, and with the second measurement having the laser incident upon side 2. For 'NIST calibrations, 1 sided probes are measured three times and two sided probes are measured six times. Again, the usual power levels are roughly ~25%, ~50%, and ~75% of the meter's full scale. A reading is taken at each power level upon each probe side.

NIST Calibration Report Results Summary