Enter the total power of the beam and the beam waist radius into the calculator to determine the gaussian beam intensity.

## Gaussian Beam Intensity Formula

The following equation is used to calculate the Gaussian Beam Intensity.

I = 2 * P / (pi*w^2)

• Where I is the Gaussian Beam Intensity
• P is the total beam power
• w is the beam waist radius

## What is a Gaussian Beam Intensity?

Definition:

Gaussian beam intensity is a parameter that is used in the science of optical fiber communication. The power carried by the beam is measured with respect to the beam width, and can be described as the average power per unit area.

The Gaussian intensity depends on the Gaussian radius, which itself depends on the beam radius and divergence angle.

Since the Gaussian beam width is inversely proportional to the square root of the wavelength, it increases rapidly with increasing wavelengths. This results in very high beam intensities for signals carried at higher optical carrier frequencies.

Gaussian beams can be produced by diffraction gratings and optical systems with circular symmetry. A narrower definition states that a Gaussian beam is one whose transverse power density (the power per unit area) varies as the inverse square of distance from the axis of propagation; such beams are produced by phase-mask diffraction gratings.

An ordinary laser with a circular output aperture produces a Gaussian beam because the power per unit area of the light striking a surface perpendicular to the beam axis decays as 1/r2, where r is distance from the aperture.