500mw 635 C-mount questions

I am interested to try one of these and was hoping someone here had some experience with them. I was wondering if they could be over powered like the 500mw can diode..is it possible to to push this one close to 1w output like the 5.6mm. If so, what current would be recommended as the max..also...what would be the best voltage to run them with?

Thanks,
Jeff

You probably could BUT, the c-mounts are plagued with bad beam specs so you will need corrective optics, have a big emitter area 100um and there are no currently available modules for them to live in.

What about this for a place to live
Focusable Laser Module Housing for C Mount Module with Heat Sink and LD Base | eBay

States it has a glass lens that focuses.....not sure of the coatings, etc...

There is currently a c-mount 500mw 635 for sale on the forum for $50 that supposedly comes with a corrective lens if I read correctly. I figure for a total of $66 it's worth a try...

its a focusing lens, no a corrective optic.

Worth a shot tho for $66

Fiddy said:

its a focusing lens, no a corrective optic.

Worth a shot tho for $66

Click to expand...

No, the diode comes with a corrective lens, not the housing....I realize this housing comes with a focusing lens...so, I will have two lenses.

I have read very little about corrective optics, hard to search on the forum...

What type of lens does it take to help shape a bar into a dot? I have read one post somewhere where somebody used a biconcave lens from a green laser module to help shape the 445's output. Would this be a similar approach?

The specs on the c-mount listed on eBay for, get this, $510 says it has an efficiency ratio of 0.8 with a max operating current of 1450mA...that should push easily to the 1w mark if I understand the specs correctly.

I have also heard that lowering the voltage to the minimum of 1.9v may push the spectrum down to 632nm, have you heard of this?

Anyways, thanks for the input. I figure for $66 and some pocket change it's worth a try...I've spent $66 on much less ambitious and noble endeavors, she was a red too but that's another story....

Ive seen a set of prisms used to acheive that but there is heavy loss's.
the go seems to be plano-convex and bi-concave setup. here

Dropping the voltage will lower the current and the amount of power going into the laser which means less heat and the wavelength shifts with heat so...

Jmillerdoc said:

What about this for a place to live
Focusable Laser Module Housing for C Mount Module with Heat Sink and LD Base | eBay

States it has a glass lens that focuses.....not sure of the coatings, etc...

There is currently a c-mount 500mw 635 for sale on the forum for $50 that supposedly comes with a corrective lens if I read correctly. I figure for a total of $66 it's worth a try...

Click to expand...

I have done some work with C-mounts.
I got one of these diode mounts and tried it out with a couple 808nm and one 650nm 300mW. What I found is that you need to place it correctly....for some reason my 650nm still does not align quite right and cuts part of the beam...

Now as far as the lens that comes with the unit, it really does little to nothing. I would doubt that it is coated for red, perhaps IR, perhaps nothing...
I would suggest if you want to really make this thing work, have someone work up some sort of lens mount that can be put closer to the diode. It's a tall order but not out of reach.

Remember that a C-mount is completely open to the elements, take care when handling it and mounting it. Also, I personally still have questions that the "heatsink" mount for the diode is enough. There should be holes to mount a fan on the back and could help in cooling.

Good luck with your experiments....If I can come up with some photo's of my 'set-up' i'll post them.:beer:


Edit: On you question....like any other diode you may be able to push them further....you Have to control the heat though. I have degraded my 650nm C-mount because it was not correctly cooled.(when I look closely through magnification I can see one or two of the wires are "burnt" but not broken...)

Link to thread on the mounts as well.....
http://laserpointerforums.com/f46/lab-c-mount-housing-67701.html

Here are some photo's of the unit you are looking at with an IR diode in it.
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My advise is to keep it at or slightly below the recommeded current. These aren't like to 445s or 638s that are rubust and can handle overspec'd current
THESE POP QUICKLY WHEN YOU USE TOO MUCH CURRENT...even 100-200mA extra
I speak from experience....

maybe if you ask nice Chris L will help you some. those look like they are from Heuursciences.

I have three JETLASERS with c-Mount 635. bar shape spot at distance.
two of the 200mW (peak 300+mW,Pl-C and PL-D) are in my avatar pic.