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Anyone interested in buying 510nm green laser diodes?

rhd

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Has their even been one provable non photoshopped beamshot or dot shot of a 500-515nm dioide based laser? I don't think there is and I find this a bit unnerving. We should have some solid proof these diodes even emit light by now shouldn't we? This all goes back to the attainable factor. Maybe they're harder to get for people even those who have good connections?

* facepalm *

I'm astounded by the fact that some people are still stuck in the mindset that green laser diodes are vapourware, or some sort of mystical items that exist only in laboratories and are not in commercial production, just because we don't have them, and Nichia's website doesn't mention them.

Has there ever been provable 500-515nm diode based laser?

YES!

In fact there are tons of them, commercialized, and have been for months. There are at least a half-dozen labbies in commercial production, for sale, right now, that use the Nichia 515nm diodes. Here are three that I had bookmarked:
RPMC Item# LBX-515 nm, Laser Boxx
Toptica: iBeam smart – Ultra Compact 515nm Diode Laser
CWA - Greenphoton® CWA Series – 515 nm

Nichia may not have updated their website, but they're the ones with a commercial production 515nm diode.
 
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joeyss

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So now why are people doubting someone who claims to have these? I mean they're bound to be getting mass produced sometime soon just like the crapio blues were and the 405s before them. It's not like they're some ultra uber unique DPSS WL that can't be made into a diode. Oh and I was referring to a actual extracted diode and not a custom lab unit that costs $$$.
 

rhd

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So now why are people doubting someone who claims to have these? I mean they're bound to be getting mass produced sometime soon just like the crapio blues were and the 405s before them. It's not like they're some ultra uber unique DPSS WL that can't be made into a diode. Oh and I was referring to a actual extracted diode and not a custom lab unit that costs $$$.

Here's why I am doubting these claims:

(1) 445s were available for individual purchase before we started finding them in projectors, and they were almost $500 a piece. If 515s were to be available for individual purchase, I don't see them costing any less than this figure, and probably a good deal more. Here's why:
(a) Nichia doesn't want these diodes sold individually. They have restrictions placed on the partners that they ARE selling them to, that prevent individual diode sales
(b) There is fierce competition from at least 2 other companies that are trying to get green diodes to market. I don't think Nichia wants individual green diodes to be any easier to procure, at least for now, than they are already through purchase of entire (expensive) labbies from their partners.
(c) The exotic Nichia wavelengths, like 488 and 473, when they are available individually, are insanely expensive - $4k plus

(2) So if they're going to be in the $250 range, we're counting on harvesting them from something mass produced (by a company that can bankroll bulk diode purchases). I am doubtful that a harvestable source of these diodes exists yet:
(a) I pay pretty close attention to press releases with keywords that would have caught any newly announced product containing a green diode (I think).
(b) Microvision extended their target for next gen pico projectors that use the green diodes to summer of 2012.
(c) The current crop of ~50mW 515nm diodes may not actually be pico-projector ready. The Pico1 balances a 50mW 532 with appropriate levels of blue and red, to get a 20 lumen output. 50mW of 515nm is less visible. They're certainly not going to move backwards on the lumen output mark just to get the advantage of using a smaller diode vs dpss. If anything, the new laser-based picos need to get their brightness UP, not down, because they're lagging behind LED-based pico alternatives.

However, I would acknowledge a few wildcards:

1) This OP said 510nm. He never said 515nm, I did. If these really are 510nm, then maybe they're not the current Nichias. Maybe Soraa, Opnext, Osram, etc have a working 510nm that my logic above wouldn't apply to. Maybe one of these companies is cool with selling diodes individually. Opnext certainly has a good track record of making their novel new diodes available at sub $500 pricing.

2) Apple. There's something in the works with Apple and pico projectors. As of 2 days ago, we've got an actual USPTO filing to confirm it (linked below). Apple likes thin and sexy, and laser-based picos are thinner than led-based ones. You know that the minute Apple integrates a pico projector into their iOS systems, we'll be a flood with harvestable items. With Apple, it's quite possible to hear almost nothing, until a few days before the product hits. Of course, they'd still be using diodes from someone else (like Nichia, etc).
United States Patent Application: 0110197147
 
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Wow, I'm sort of surprised at this perspective (those were just two of many comments to the same effect).

We know that NONE of the green diodes in production are 532, so that's right off the table.

The green diode wavelengths that this could be (if it is anything at all) are 505, 510, 515.

If I bought these as 510, and got 505, I would be thrilled. If I got 515, thrilled. It's a new diode wavelength that none of us has experience in this format before, no matter how you slice it. Why would you nit pick over a small plus/minus just because of the principal that "I paid for a 510" ?

If I paid for a 510nm diode, and got a GREEN diode, I would be happy :)

I would like to point out that most diodes can/do deviate more than that range. Do you return your 445 diodes when they come as 440nm? How about the 405's that run 410? Also, what about red diodes at below freezing temperatures? 660nm diodes can be driven to 640nm with temperature alone.

I say wait a week till he gets these diodes and some pictures before you all get so worked up. For all we know he has a source on a new pico projector or something. Remember when the 445 diodes hit ebay for $500?
 

joeyss

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Hmm the apple thing has me wondering now. Maybe we won't know till later due to fear of legal repercussions?
 
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I've been reading this thread and thought exactly the same thing.

I'd be happy with ANY reasonable cost wavelength that could be called green in a direct diode. Even a 532 at this point. Just for the geek factor of having one the first greens in the hobby field that doesn't use DPSS.

Now if he OP actually has access to these is another story and of course the cost involved

Wow, I'm sort of surprised at this perspective (those were just two of many comments to the same effect).

We know that NONE of the green diodes in production are 532, so that's right off the table.

The green diode wavelengths that this could be (if it is anything at all) are 505, 510, 515.

If I bought these as 510, and got 505, I would be thrilled. If I got 515, thrilled. It's a new diode wavelength that none of us has experience in this format before, no matter how you slice it. Why would you nit pick over a small plus/minus just because of the principal that "I paid for a 510" ?

If I paid for a 510nm diode, and got a GREEN diode, I would be happy :)
 

rhd

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Light Blue Optics got FCC approval on a laser pico projector on Friday (the 8th of August) - it's a cool one that projects a keyboard and touch interface. Unfortunately, because of a confidentiality request, we can't see the FCC internal photos of this pico projector, so it's tough to know if it is / will be using a diode-green or a DPSS-green.

The OP is in the UK, and so is Light Blue Optics according to their FCC filed confidentiality request: https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/eas/GetApplicationAttachment.html?id=1518751 Long shot, but OP might have been one of the first to source a unit or prototype of the LBO pico.

Let me see if I can dig up some indication of the green laser source used in this unit.

lighttouch_1.jpg
 
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rhd

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Nope - From page 6 of the FCC filed future product manual here:
https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/eas/GetApplicationAttachment.html?id=1518763

Tested to IEC 60825-1:2007
447nm wavelength, 0.16mW maximum power, 200uSec pulse duration
532nm wavelength, 0.26mW maximum power, 200uSec pulse duration
637nm wavelength, 0.26mW maximum power, 200uSec pulse duration
780nm wavelength, 0.14mW maximum power, 16.6mSec (Class 1)

(It's just a 532)
 

rhd

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They're really all over the place - but they're always 515, I've never seen 510.

Green diodes have been available for a long time.
However, the technology was not good enough for large scale production and the diodes were/are not efficient enough for commercial products. On top of that, the $/mW ratio was/is huge.

The new technology has allowed scientists to produce a wide range of wavelengths in the green part of the spectrum from 500~520nm and at powers much higher than a measly 5mW.
There have been quite a few articles posted on the forum about the advancements as the wavelength was pushed further toward red. The advancement with the violet, then blue, diodes is what really led to the breakthrough. It seems that 510-515nm is the wavelength(s) they are settling on.
 
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rhd

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Green diodes have been available for a long time.
However, the technology was not good enough for large scale production and the diodes were/are not efficient enough for commercial products. On top of that, the $/mW ratio was/is huge.

The new technology has allowed scientists to produce a wide range of wavelengths in the green part of the spectrum from 500~520nm and at powers much higher than a measly 5mW.
There have been quite a few articles posted on the forum about the advancements as the wavelength was pushed further toward red. The advancement with the violet, then blue, diodes is what really led to the breakthrough. It seems that 510-515nm is the wavelength(s) they are settling on.

It occurred to me though, that within the context of display-destined laser technology, the $/mW ratio is less important than the $ per some unit of brightness. If 640nm is running about $1 per mW right now, then $200 worth of 640 will give us 200mW, which would be roughly balanced by 50mW of 515nm. So at $200 for these diodes, they would basically be priced on par with an equivalent brightness of red :)
 

jakeGT

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Once again, please nobody get any crazier for me saying this.
I will believe it when I see it. Until then I could care less
 
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