I FAC'ed a 5.6mm 445nm diode at Home "DIY"

Hey All,

Its been a while since i posted a Thread. Iam starting to clear some things out so ill be back shortly with a lot of new projects that iam sure you guys will like. I promise.:beer:


For now lets start off with this one.

I FAC'ed a 445nm at Home.

This is my second attempt to try and add an FAC to a 445nm diode and this time it turned out way better then i thought. ITS PERFECT.! The Alignment is Dead Center and i dont even think a machine could get it any better then this so iam pretty proud of it for only using tweezers. "Just saying"
Its not the Pretest job when it comes to doing it but it works and thats all i really care about.

Plus alot of this now adays is all done with robots and still very expensive to get added to a diode after the fact. Throw in that its a 5.6mm diode and alot of FAC places wont even try it or further more dont have the tool to be able to grip onto the diode.(Hard to explain how they do it.) Though there is still some places that do it manually with the help of hand machine tools to hold things steady.


A long time ago when i first tried to do this i failed due to the FAC breaking then getting lost somewhere on my desk. I was lucky enough to have a few more optics that i bought but i dint want to try it again right away because i spent over 6 hours doing it the first time. This time around it took me ~3 hours because Ive had alot of experience since then with FAC diodes. So I gave it another shot and this is how it turned out.



Picutres:










The Results::shhh:



:wave:

None the less this is pretty hard to do at home. The hardest part is actually having to have the laser diode on in order to align the FAC to the die so that its straight.

I first used some hot glue to hold it in place around the die area. Then i mixed up some thermal adhesive as it was easier to see since all i had was a 30x pocket microscope that could get close enough. After i had the FAC around the die i mixed up the adhesive and did one side of FAC. Then i let that dry and mixed up some more to do the other side but this time i had to have the diode ON so that i can see that its going through the FAC and is aligned. There is No other way to do it. I let it dry but still was holding it in place with the tweezers and the more tacky the adhesive got the easier it was to align. That is pretty much it. Sounds Easy right.? Try it.:crackup:

Everything is Just so small and just so touchy.ERRRR


After all that I Focused the beam with one of the longer Focal length lenses i have "~30mmFL 20mm Dia." and its near Single mode results.:eg: NO Joke. It really is. The 445nm diode does not have that bad of a divergence like say the Mitsu 638nm diodes. Thats another subject ill show when i get the time.

I took pictures of it but it dint come out good so ill update with them when i get home from work tomorrow night.:beer:


I used a M140 diode that was not performing above average. It was just an average 445nm diode.

I LPMed it before and after and there was only ~50mW Loss. I plain on running this diode on the low side for 445nm and hopefully get a stable 1W corrected beam laser out of it and try to add another FAC to another 445nm diode in the future and run it harder since now i know how to do it. or at least have done it and feel that i can do it again.

I will pop the diode out of the module i have it in as a holder and make a custom one for the diode aswell.



Anyway, For now this is what i got. Hope you guys like it.

Cheers

Ill Update soon with measurements.

:beer:




:thanks: For Looking.!!!


AS ALWAYS, Keep on Lazing................


I Know I know. Get back to my PM's Now.:crackup:

Welcome back homes :beer:
Great work I can't imagine this perfection at this micro level, with just the bare hands.. You must be a surgeon in other life :bowdown:

All i can say is wow... and :kewlpics:

Nice job! So when will the corrected diodes be on the market?

BTW do you have any pics of the output after a G lens? That would be very interesting...:beer: and +1

What is FAC?

Hey Guys thanks.

I really wanted to see a 445nm diode with a FAC and what results can be achieved and getting it done by a lab is pretty expensive and even going through someone you know at a Lab that can do it still its pricey so i gave it another shot and now we get to see the results of this.

A FAC if done correctly using the correct size for the size of the die usually you can achieve very good results.


grainde@

There is No way i would ever make this a service.LOL. My hair would turn gray by the end of the week.:crackup:


Sure i can take some picture with a G lens however whats the point.?

FAC diodes need a Long Focal lenth lens to collimate the beam.

If you where to put a G-lens or use even like an Aixiz Lens on a diode that is FAC'ed you would get really bad divergence. You need a Long Focal length lens.


Zeebit @

FAC stands for

Fast Axis Correction.

Great job man :gj:

Thanks for sharing it with us :beer:

Lol when i first red the title i thought this thread was completely different! Now i have to do research on what FAC is

greetings,,

Where did you get the lens at?

lazeerer said:

There is No way i would ever make this a service.LOL. My hair would turn gray by the end of the week.:crackup:

Click to expand...

:san:

lazeerer said:

Sure i can take some picture with a G lens however whats the point.?

FAC diodes need a Long Focal lenth lens to collimate the beam.

If you where to put a G-lens or use even like an Aixiz Lens on a diode that is FAC'ed you would get really bad divergence. You need a Long Focal length lens.

Click to expand...

Ah ok just thought if the fast axis had been reduced youd have less of a bar shaped output and hence a G lens would be able to provide more power without affecting the final dot. Much like the power gain using a G lens on a single mode diode. So was just hoping we could now use a G with a better output...Guess Ill have to read up on FACing!

You mentioned that you loose 50 mW due to the FAC, but how does the total power output (with a LFL lens) actually compare to a G? ie if you get approx 30 % more with a G over a 3 Ele how do these compare to the LFL lens + FAC?

If you do have any lens dot comparisons against a std M140, that would be great... :beer:

Nice!
That must have been a challenge. How does the output look after you collimate it?

Here are a couple of photos of the correction with just a Long FL "~25mm" Lens i had.

Note: This is not the best lens for this diode i can tell but it does a pretty good job.

At 22 Feet thats "8.15mm Square like" Almost like an Egg but more even. I think it could be the lens though.





Even though the Dot looks somewhat rounded now its still a Square like beam.

I will play around with some more optics this weekend that i have and that i have ordered and see if i get any better results as well as make a mount for the diode.

I want to try with a 40mm FL lens. My guess is it will knock off some size of the final dot though remember the longer the FL the Wider the beam is leading up to that point..

Speedy78@ I got the Lens from the place i got some custom FAC diode work done as a free bee.

grainde @ You have to use a very long Focal Lenth lens. Nothing that low will work. You need something in the 20mm -60mm range depending on what specs your diode is and your FAC is.

Wow! Good job, that's amazing!

50mW loss isn't bad, what was this coated for, broadband?

I'm amazed that you were able to do this, basically by hand.

Any plans on trying it with a 638 diode next?

ARGLaser said:

Wow! Good job, that's amazing!

50mW loss isn't bad, what was this coated for, broadband?

Click to expand...

It was Coated for 488nm IIRC. Ill have to look it up but its dedicated WL was 488nm and had a broadband of i think 400-700nm.

The Loss could Honestly be from error of me putting it on. Who knows. But i think with FAC you get very low low lose. Iam still able to hit the MAX power i was Before though it take another 60mA difference.

InfinitusEquitas said:

I'm amazed that you were able to do this, basically by hand.

Any plans on trying it with a 638 diode next?

Click to expand...

Thanks.

Well "We" Already did the Mitsubishi's 300mW and got the FAC put on professionally. But we still have not had the time to finish the testing on them.

Ill have to talk to my buddy again which we both got them done together to post about it but he has not been that active lately.

you're the wizard angelos!:gj: