Why yellow lasers are so expensive?

Hi, I am new member to this forum, this is my first post. I was looking into using a small 5mW yellow laser for a project and I was very surprised on how expensive they are. I can get a 5mW red or green laser diode for around $10 or less but for yellow/amber color the price goes to $300. I have also seen in this forum people producing laser beams by combining red and green lasers in what appears to be a relatively inexpensive process.

http://laserpointerforums.com/f40/my-first-yellow-build-updated-yellow-beam-91523.html
http://laserpointerforums.com/f40/yellow-lantern-mag-lite-638-520nm-combo-87712.html#post1276649
http://laserpointerforums.com/f40/diy-yellow-laser-80450.html
http://laserpointerforums.com/f51/tutorial-yellow-pointer-project-cool-44427.html

Why are there no commercially available yellow lasers at a comparable price to the red and green ones? Why can't the R+G method be available commercially, or is it?

If you do a little more research you will find that a yellow laser is not just a simple diode.

Yellow lasers are DPSS lasers which are a complex combination of crystals, optics and TEC's as well as a high powered pump diode.

Others have build combined lasers but that takes complex machining and again optics.

This drives up the cost tremendously :beer:

Yellow lasers are expensive for the following reasons:

1) Not much demand for them
2) The process required to obtain yellow output is much more difficult then for example the process for your standard greenie
3) They aren't very efficient so more power is needed to pump in to obtain yellow

-Alex

I read a little bit about yellow lasers on wiki and other sites but then I came across the links on this forum about a DIY cheap method of producing yellowish lasers by combining red and green laser diodes and dichroic lenses. Why can't this method be used instead of the more expensive one?

nikosb said:

I read a little bit about yellow lasers on wiki and other sites but then I came across the links on this forum about a DIY cheap method of producing yellowish lasers by combining red and green laser diodes and dichroic lenses. Why can't this method be used instead of the more expensive one?

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It can be used if you just make a cheaper yellow laser, but by combining beams you aren't producing a true yellow/orange laser @ the 589/593.5 wavelengths. You are just overlapping 2 different wavelengths

-Alex

Not everybody needs to use strictly yellow laser for research purposes. I am just curious if there is already a company that sells yellowish lasers the cheap way?

nikosb said:

Not everybody needs to use strictly yellow laser for research purposes. I am just curious if there is already a company that sells yellowish lasers the cheap?

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If you are looking for 589 or 593.5 lasers in a pointer/handheld CNI is the only company who makes them IIRC. You will either have to buy from CNI or some of their resellers:

-LaserGlow
-DragonLasers

None of these are cheap(>$200).

-Alex

If your trying to make a R+G laser,

First of all, you need to get both lasers in one housing, which is slightly difficult in a pen laser housing.
Second, they should be similar sized beams and properly balanced power, or it might be too green or too red.
Third, (the hardest part) both beams must be combined with a dichroic filter so that the beams are very very nearly perfectly overlapped, which is tedious and difficult.

I think most likely it is the last step that is why they aren't commercially available. If the workers had to take the time to manually align it the price would go up considerably, and then it might not be economic for the manufacturer to make/sell them.

I hope that answers part of you question.

Too bad you can't get overlapped yellows commercially. Would be good for enthusiasts like me!

nikosb said:

I read a little bit about yellow lasers on wiki and other sites but then I came across the links on this forum about a DIY cheap method of producing yellowish lasers by combining red and green laser diodes and dichroic lenses. Why can't this method be used instead of the more expensive one?

Click to expand...

Check this link out, to see a "yellow" laser that is made by combining R/G wavelengths. BTW, it is, or was commercially available from CNI.

Edit- You just missed out on a great deal on the unit in the link, it was being sold for an excellent price here on LPF in the BST forum!

BowtieGuy said:

Check this link out, to see a "yellow" laser that is made by combining R/G wavelengths. BTW, it is, or was commercially available from CNI.

Edit- You just missed out on a great deal on the unit in the link, it was being sold for an excellent price here on LPF in the BST forum!

Click to expand...

I think it's still being sold BowtieGuy, he still has a chance

-Alex