Ok here's the deal, I saw this deal on eBay for three 12Watt 942nm diodes for 20 bucks and I felt my manhood was on the line if I didn't buy em so they're presumably in the USPS on their way here as we speak.
Link to the ebay auction (he has more): NICE - 3 NEW? 942nm Laser Diode Modules - WOW! - eBay (item 140458093048 end time Oct-04-10 14:07:34 PDT)
First of all, I've never seen diodes that look anything like the images he's provided. If anyone else has, I would love any input you can provide. Questions I'd like answered about it might include: wtf is that metal can on there? Why is there a thumb screw on top of it? Why is there what appears to be a hard drive jumper on the back of the package? Where will the light be emitted from... etc.
I'm hoping there will be some included paperwork with the shipment but I rather doubt there will be. I can't find any info about a manufacturer or anything from searching for part numbers and none of the image searches I've ran for diodes has turned up anything similar.
Second of all, from the pictures he's taken of some specification sheets, the "FWHM" is only 3.3nm. "Full Width at Half Maximum equivalent"... Is this referring to the deviance in the emission spectrum of the diode or something else?
My third and final question is regarding collimation and/or focusing the output. I've got a pretty good 10mm planar-convex lens mounted in an aluminum assembly that's got really good transmission in my wavelength. However, when I purchased this lens it was very clearly stated that it was for Fast Axis Corrected diodes only.
I understand what Fast Axis means, what I don't understand is what the corrected bit means. Does that mean that the beam is collimated along one axis so it only puts light out in a line? Or does it simply mean that the fast axis divergence has been reduced to the same divergence of the slow axis so it spits out a square pattern?
Regardless of the answer to the previous question, does any one have any recommendations as to correcting the fast axis of one of these diodes for use with this lens? I'm probably going to shop around for more optics anyways but I'd love some advice.
Ok, now for my objective with this. I'm hoping to build an X-Y table and use one of these diodes to etch printed circuit boards, or etch a resist off of the surface of copper clad boards and then chemically etch them normally. Construction details of that end of the project I assume are for another forum, I just wanted to let you know what I intended to do with the end product of this crazy project.
Oh, and a P.S. Yes I have purchased applicable safety eye ware. I am not completely without sanity. Link: LSI 100-25-125 Laser Safety Eyewear
The filter is designed for YAG pumped lasers and has a healthy optical density around that wavelength so I'm pretty sure I'll be protected as long as I don't give it a chance to burn through. I'll take any input you have about the goggles as well.
Link to the ebay auction (he has more): NICE - 3 NEW? 942nm Laser Diode Modules - WOW! - eBay (item 140458093048 end time Oct-04-10 14:07:34 PDT)
First of all, I've never seen diodes that look anything like the images he's provided. If anyone else has, I would love any input you can provide. Questions I'd like answered about it might include: wtf is that metal can on there? Why is there a thumb screw on top of it? Why is there what appears to be a hard drive jumper on the back of the package? Where will the light be emitted from... etc.
I'm hoping there will be some included paperwork with the shipment but I rather doubt there will be. I can't find any info about a manufacturer or anything from searching for part numbers and none of the image searches I've ran for diodes has turned up anything similar.
Second of all, from the pictures he's taken of some specification sheets, the "FWHM" is only 3.3nm. "Full Width at Half Maximum equivalent"... Is this referring to the deviance in the emission spectrum of the diode or something else?
My third and final question is regarding collimation and/or focusing the output. I've got a pretty good 10mm planar-convex lens mounted in an aluminum assembly that's got really good transmission in my wavelength. However, when I purchased this lens it was very clearly stated that it was for Fast Axis Corrected diodes only.
I understand what Fast Axis means, what I don't understand is what the corrected bit means. Does that mean that the beam is collimated along one axis so it only puts light out in a line? Or does it simply mean that the fast axis divergence has been reduced to the same divergence of the slow axis so it spits out a square pattern?
Regardless of the answer to the previous question, does any one have any recommendations as to correcting the fast axis of one of these diodes for use with this lens? I'm probably going to shop around for more optics anyways but I'd love some advice.
Ok, now for my objective with this. I'm hoping to build an X-Y table and use one of these diodes to etch printed circuit boards, or etch a resist off of the surface of copper clad boards and then chemically etch them normally. Construction details of that end of the project I assume are for another forum, I just wanted to let you know what I intended to do with the end product of this crazy project.
Oh, and a P.S. Yes I have purchased applicable safety eye ware. I am not completely without sanity. Link: LSI 100-25-125 Laser Safety Eyewear
The filter is designed for YAG pumped lasers and has a healthy optical density around that wavelength so I'm pretty sure I'll be protected as long as I don't give it a chance to burn through. I'll take any input you have about the goggles as well.