Laser Parts

New to laser assemblies in general. So I have a couple questions.....
If a laser is rated for 300mW, is it the diode that is rated to the or is it the "driver" that does that? Also if you could define what the driver is that would be great! I mean I assume its what powers the diode, but a bit more specific would be grand! thanks in advance!

Here -->http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?virboard=b_general;num=1206843997

--hydro15

Hi there, I would dig through the forums here some more because there have been many posts about making your own laser driver. Just to give you a brief idea about what a driver board does, the driver is a small circuit board that regulates the current going into the LD or laser diode. If the current is not regulated, your laser diode will burn out pretty quickly.

hydrogenman15 provided an excellent link for you so I suggest reading through this post carefully. Good luck on your research...

A custom built driver needs two things. First is voltage regulation done be a capacitor and the other is current regulation achieved by a LM317.

Refer to this:
http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1185701612

The mW is a measure of how much power the diode puts out not the driver. The driver will supply current (mA) to the diode. Generally the more current the diode is supplied the more mW of optical power will be emitted. But there are limits! Find out the max current rating of your diode and do not exceed that level! And for long life out of your diode you should set the current around the midpoint between the threshold current (the mA level in which the diode just starts to lase) and max current, and proper heat sinking should be applied for higher power diodes and long duty cycles (how long you wanna keep it running at a time).

The color of the laser is dependent on it's nm (nano meter).
405nm rare (DIY not so expensive)
473nm rare and expensive
532nm semi common semi expensive
593nm rare and very expensive
635nm semi common brighter red
650nm common cheap lasers
808nm infrared practically invisible

hope this helps
-Steve