Laser power calibration in an optical disc drive

Various systems, methods, and programs embodied on a computer-readable medium are provided for calibrating a laser power in an optical disc drive. In one embodiment, a range of reflectivity of an optical disc in the optical disc drive is established. A calibration pattern of marked segments is written to the optical disc and the reflectivity of the marked segments is measured. An average reflectivity is generated for each one of a plurality of laser power settings within the range of reflectivity, thereby obtaining a curve that depicts the average reflectivity with respect to the laser power settings. The laser power setting at a knee of the curve is identified and a slope of the curve at a position on the curve where the average reflectivity decreases as the laser power settings increase is determined. The laser power setting is calculated that results in a predefined darkness based upon the laser power setting at the knee and based upon the slope.