Wiki / Annotations / Beam probe

Beam probe

Reads the nearby traced beam without intercepting it, showing a selected spectrum, wavelength, power, polarization, pulse duration, or intensity-over-time view.

Open in the canvas →

A live trace, not a picture of one — but this preview is not interactive. Open it in the canvas to move things, change parameters, and save or export your own version.

In the real world

Laboratory beam diagnostics normally require a sensor or pickoff that interacts with the light. A non-intercepting label in a ray diagram instead communicates a property already known from the model; it is not a physical measuring instrument.

In OpticalSetup

Place the crosshair near a traced beam and select the property to show. Spectrum and time views provide range controls; pulse duration requires suitable pulsed light. The probe reads the nearest traced beam rather than integrating all light over a detector face.

The example puts a spectrum probe between a broadband source and a detector. Move it away from the beam, then back, to see its dependence on the selected location. It never absorbs light or creates a new optical branch.

Simplified vs. reality

This is a diagnostic annotation with direct access to traced properties. It does not represent a laboratory probe's aperture, calibration, noise, or disturbance of the beam.

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