CD lasers

Dr_Evil · Aug 10, 2008

I keep seeing people saying that CD reading lasers are IR. Does anybody have proof? I'm not talking about CD burning lasers. The reason I ask is because I have looked at the light emitting from CD players. It is distinctly red. Not the IR type red. That was back when portable CD players where the thing to have. Maybe it has changed over the years.

MarioMaster · Aug 10, 2008

Dr. Evil said:
I keep seeing people saying that CD reading lasers are IR. Does anybody have proof? I'm not talking about CD burning lasers. The reason I ask is because I have looked at the light emitting from CD players. It is distinctly red. Not the IR type red. That was back when portable CD players where the thing to have. Maybe it has changed over the years.

CDs are 780nm, so not completely invisible

It's still classified as IR but it's basically borderline just like bluray is borderline UV but we can still see it

heck I can see 808nm with enough power behind it, and it also still looks red

Dr_Evil · Aug 10, 2008

I wouldn't think the IR used for CD players would be strong enough to see. The ones I looked at were really red. Not the deep red of IR. :-/

styropyro · Aug 10, 2008

I have a 100mW 780nm laser and the dot is very visible considering it is NIR, so I can see It's pretty red to me, it almost looks like it may be a little violetish for some reason (probably because it's basically IR)

Dr_Evil · Aug 10, 2008

I'm glad I didn't look at the light very long. I had always thought it was a low powered red diode in CD players.

MarioMaster · Aug 10, 2008

Dr. Evil said:
I'm glad I didn't look at the light very long. I had always thought it was a low powered red diode in CD players.

it's probably about 5mW, plus everyone sees colors slightly differently

CD lasers

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