Got a new Laserglow Aquarius-6 : and its TEM01 .. Is that right?

Really? I expect more from laserglow.

Yeah, basicall near TEM00 means it will operate in and around that mode. Example, you'll find that these types of lasers will drift in and out of the modes and wont always be entirely one or the other:

TEM00
Near TEM00
TEM01

O
.O - oO
oo

Hopefully you can get a laser that will operate in TEM00 at least some of the time and when you do you should be happy. I would, personally, RMA the unit as it sounds like it's in full TEM01, but that might just be me... Run some more tests on the unit in different temperature conditions and see if it wil combine a little into an ovel, at which point it should be considered to be performing correctly...

^I'm not getting why a laser that was specified by the supplier as operating across a range of transverse modes is defective. According to the posted specs, this laser is operating correctly. There is no rule that says all lasers must run TEM00.. There is such a thing as a multimode laser, and this is specified as such.

Also, near TEM00 means a beam with only one mode being excited, but the beam might not be perfectly round and might contain uneven power distribution (hot spots). There should be no higher-order modes being excited, and higher order modes are being excited even if there is only a portion of a second lobe showing or the full two lobes of TEM01. Both of your illustrations for near TEM00 are actually TEM01. Just because both lobes aren't of equal power doesn't change the label.

ElektroFreak said:

^I'm not getting why a laser that was specified by the supplier as operating across a range of transverse modes is defective. According to the posted specs, this laser is operating correctly. There is no rule that says all lasers must run TEM00.. There is such a thing as a multimode laser, and this is specified as such.

Also, near TEM00 means a beam with only one mode being excited, but the beam might not be perfectly round and might contain uneven power distribution (hot spots). There should be no higher-order modes being excited, and higher order modes are being excited even if there is only a portion of a second lobe showing or the full two lobes of TEM01. Both of your illustrations for near TEM00 are actually TEM01. Just because both lobes aren't of equal power doesn't change the label.

Click to expand...

Yeah, like I say, that might just be me... When spending so much money on so little power, it would be great to have the best you can get. However, not everyone would find it worth spending the time and money to send back the unit over such an issue as indeed, the laser is operating as LG state and is not defective. I would just be dissapointed and if a swap happened to be offered by the company, would more than likely opt for it (again, that might just be me).

Over my time spent with 473nm lasers, I've had three Spartan BP's, two of which were sent back due to them suffering severe power drops. However, with all three I witnessed the same behaviour as far as the transverse mode goes, which is as I discribed above. Sometimes they might be in TEM00, sometimes it might go ovel shaped and have a small artifact off to the side, other times it might go into TEM01, but on average the laser will be closer to TEM00 than any other mode (with a beam expander this behaviour can be fully observed). Dragon Lasers specify the lasers to be near TEM00 and after witnessing it with three individual units, that's what I would consider to be meant by near TEM00.

aryntha said:

Yeah, what seems to happen is this:

It starts as a clean round dot, and then develops a 'minor' secondary dot. As it heats up, it does go to full TEM01, but even 40 feet away the two dots are fairly close together, and the null region isn't all that thick..

Just kind of learning as I go here.

Click to expand...

Sorry, I didn't see this post before. From my experience, if this is the behaviour of the laser, then I'd say it's perfectly normal, even to CNI's specifications...

TBH getting a clear description of exactly what "near TEM00" was a real pain in the neck.. I was fortunate enough to be able to ask a legendary laser expert about it and the description I gave is what he told me. You can still take his description and use it for nearly any beam profile that doesn't obviously contain higher-order modes, and most Chinese suppliers do just that.

IMO they never should have made 473nm portables. It's a crap shoot in terms of stability due to the advanced and demanding nature of 473nm generation.. It's a surefire recipe for disaster. Recently there have been some advancements in blue DPSS design using Nd:YVO4 and LBO crystals to generate light at 457nm with MUCH greater efficiency and power output possibilities than 473nm. These 457nm lasers are a MUCH better candidate for use in a portable, but no one is making them yet. CNI is trying to sway new purchasers toward 457nm if blue light is needed, and I'm sure their ultimate goal is to replace 473nm with 457nm as much as possible.

ElektroFreak said:

TBH getting a clear description of exactly what "near TEM00" was a real pain in the neck.. I was fortunate enough to be able to ask a legendary laser expert about it and the description I gave is what he told me. You can still take his description and use it for nearly any beam profile that doesn't obviously contain higher-order modes, and most Chinese suppliers do just that.

IMO they never should have made 473nm portables. It's a crap shoot in terms of stability due to the advanced and demanding nature of 473nm generation.. It's a surefire recipe for disaster. Recently there have been some advancements in blue DPSS design using Nd:YVO4 and LBO crystals to generate light a 457nm with MUCH greater efficiency and power output possibilities than 473nm. These 457nm lasers are a MUCH better candidate for use in a portable, but no one is making them yet. CNI is trying to sway new purchasers toward 457nm if blue light is needed, and I'm sure their ultimate goal is to replace 473nm with 457nm as much as possible.

Click to expand...

Advice taken on board!

Indeed, I fully agree. If I was in the position right now, only portable I would even consider buying would be an RPLB-30 due to it's specifications and reliability. However if I was to advise anyone on it I'd say don't even bother, as it's pretty much pointless if people are thinking about building a scanner, the balance between the cost and potential applications of pointers are too far and wide.

Pens are even more pointless and the price continues to baffle me. Spartan BP has a superiour heat sink and generally performs better than the pens, yet the price of the more powerful units are only a tiny bit pricier than the CNI pen (Aurora 20mW - $999, Spartan BP 50mW - $1050). There's absolutely no chance I'd pay that much for a 20mW pen considering it's capabilities of maintaining the temperasture and stability of the beam, especially considering I could get more than twice the amount of power for an extra $50; or hell, an RPL for an extra $100.

For 473nm, modules are the only way to go...

I think you paid too much.

In glenn gb a aquarius 5 was 300 or 315$, a aquarius 25 was 100$ more....

I probably did pay too much, but I wasn't able to get in on the group buy... And I didn't even know of this forum at the time...

Well, looks like there's lots of opinions here... Unfortunately this is what i'm seeing right now:

First 30 seconds: TEM00
After 30 seconds: Full TEM01
After about 1 minute: Near TEM02.

.. I'm worried about what sort of pain Laserglow is going to put me through if I do decide to exchange this... I'll probably have to ship it back, wait a few weeks. (Unless others have had other experiences with Laserglow.)

But of course there are people telling me now - send it back.

Others saying these will never be stable and it's likely as good as I'm going to get. Plus, apparently CNI says TEM01 (or 'near TEM00')...

Not sure what to think... Here's two spot shots (i'm still not very good at this) at about 20ft, and it showing TEM01 after about 30 secs, and "Near TEM02" behavior after about a minute.

Does anyone here have an Aquarius that just sits happily at TEM00 all the time?

I personally wouldn't worry about it too much

Well, here we go, and, maybe a question people can answer here:

... Scott from Laserglow sent me my exchange: Aquarius Pro-20, rated at 37.7mW.
... Definitely brighter, and TEM00 almost all the time (nice), I'm pretty happy with it, I've just got one concern:

.... It's not pulsed.

From what I understand, ALL of these lasers are supposed to be pulsed, but this one I just got, is definitely, no doubt, CW.

I actually PREFER it being CW, -- My concern is this:

Could the "pulsing" electronics be broken, causing this laser to have a really short life? Or did CNI change their specs and electronics recently, and maybe the newer "Pro" 473nm (the ones with the key interlock, etc) - are now CW?

I'm hoping this is just a design change. If so, I'm definitely very happy with this one. Just a bit of a concern that it's *supposed* to be pulsing to maintain its cooling but it 'stopped pulsing'.
.. Didn't even want to ask, as to not look like too much of a complainer but, really, I just want to get opinions and it's obvious that there are folks here who are quite 'in the know'.

Thanks for everyone's patience.

I wouldn't worry about it.. This is a different model, and different models sometimes have different features.

There is no rule that says a 473nm laser must be pulsed, and the fact that the previous one was might have actually been a contributing factor to it's instability. DPSS lasers do not respond well to being pulsed as a general rule.

Good pics, My Aquarius -10 is very similar. I still love the laser! -Glenn

So wait, you sent back the Aquarius-6 and they sent you the Aquarius Pro-20?!

You lucky SOB! I want it!, trade you for a 400mW 8X?

Well, Keep in mind that along with the Aquarius, I also bought an Orion HV-200, Aries-125, Rigel, and two pairs of safety glasses. And the Black Friday sale happened in the middle of it all... i.e., when I placed my order initially, the sale wasn't going on -- by the time I received stuff (overnight), it was.

LG could have said "so sorry" about the sale thing happening a day after my order - but they didn't. They won me as a long term customer because of that.

I'm sure I want to get in on a GB one of these days but it's hard to beat good and active customer service...

It's a freq i've wanted for a long, long, long time... After being kind of screwed by WL for a "60mW" green (you don't want to know...) -- let's just say I'm thankful for finding this forum, some of the sellers on it (Mohrenberg) and Laserglow.