Just wondering. Apart from yellow laser, 1mW of 532nm laser costs far more than any other. And green lasers above 500mW are very expensive. Is it so because green diodes cost far more? :yh:
The reason why blue is so cheap is because they are harvested from a projector. Try to buy one directly and you will pay several hundred $ for one diode.
Your question has been answered tens, if not hundreds of times in previous threads. This forum has existed for more than 6 years and there are two search options available. Make use of them.
532nm is expensive because it is created via DPSS. Same for 473nm,589nm and several other wavelengths.
All the information is a couple of seconds away if you do the research yourself.
Green diodes are expensive 'cause they're still new; green DPSS lasers are expensive because they're inefficient and not easy to produce in high powers; 473nm blue DPSS is expensive for the same reason but at a bit lower powers; and yellow DPSS (SFG) is even more difficult to produce in very low powers. It's just the alignment and cost of crystals & coatings that make these expensive.
The blue diodes were out for a while and are mass produced in easy-access machines we hobbyists take apart.