home made power meter?

[Draco]

I think i may have asked about this question but it lead to extend the range of the meter i already own, with that i use a prism or a mirror with a known loss or pass though, and i get ok results doing that.
My question now is there a "kit" form meter that uses a thermopile or some other detector that i can put on a heat sink, i had tried a silicon solar cell with bad results but that was measuring voltage, i think if i measure current instead i may get better results, one of the things i need is to be able to have the beam at the detector for very long amounts of time, i wanted to measure the stability or some of my stuff.
I know i can buy one but i already have a meter i paid nearly 300 for and am not willing to pay a "leg and or tail" for it. i have a laser of known power power at-lest for some lose calibration, it just needs to show fluctuations and survive a 2-5 watt beam for a long time. has some one done this at all?

I would use my existing meter but it's sensor is not rated for long exposure, i believe, i know it shuts off after 5 min or so and gets a bit frustrating, i need to made a hood for it too as it does pick up ambient light on some ranges,

[lasersbee]

You can use something like this http://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/CP60240/102-1676-ND/1747368
and Thermally mount it to a large thermal mass.
You will need to find a flat black high temperature coating and open the
Laser's beam to fit the sensor.
Most cheaply you can use a Voltmeter on the lowest range or you can
build an adjustable gain amplifier to increase the millivolt output to a
more usable range.
You will then need to calibrate the readings to a know accurate LPM.

Jerry

[Photonbeam]

Anyone on PL that has stripped and modded a surgical KTP yag has at least a few power meter assemblies with silicon photodiode, splitter and PC board. I'll bet you can get one of these cheap or free. The circuit is easy to figure out. Just add power. Of course you will need to borrow another power meter to calibrate it.

[Draco]

Sweet! I do have access to a higher power meter and set one of my lasers to 1.2 watts during the short time i had access to it and while i was looking at the sensor i had guessed it was a TEC, turns out i was right, that is good to know and thank you for taking the time to find a TEC of the right size.
hopefully too some one will pop up with the KTP as well, my indirect method i had used with a low range power meter was way off