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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

10mw

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I have been experimenting with this on an M140 and have found that the current has to be set at 160-180mA to get 3-5mW output. It's very sensitive though, as soon as you hit around 200mA the output jumps to about 30mW.

If the power jumps at ~200mW then that is usually the point
the LD actually starts Lasing. Prior to that lasing threshold it
is outputting like an LED.


Jerry

You can contact us at any time on our Website: J.BAUER Electronics
 





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I increasingly want to make a single mode 450nm so when I get around to getting myself a PL405 I will do some testing. By then I should have my Laserbee II so I can do testing on the exact outputs at varying currents.
 
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DrSid

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You could also take stronger laser and dim it using filter, or half-reflect it of glass, or maybe using aperture to cut parts of the beam.
 
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Not much sense in making a more powerful laser and then filtering it down though. It's unnecessary heat and power usage. Not to mention extra costs to increased heatsinking and filters. Also you lose the one benifit of lower power single mode diodes having superior divergence and better beam specs. IMO, if you want low power only drive the diode to the power you desire. The diode will run cooler, longer, and more stable. The only time I could see this being useful is if you required a low power laser and already possessed a higher powered one.
 
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Garoq

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If the power jumps at ~200mW then that is usually the point
the LD actually starts Lasing. Prior to that lasing threshold it
is outputting like an LED.


Jerry

That's what I surmised. You can also see a difference in the appearance of the spot, above the threshold it displays that unique specular quality of laser light.

I wonder if when operating below the threshold you could make the argument to the FDA that it is only an LED flashlight? ;)
 

Garoq

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You could also take stronger laser and dim it using filter, or half-reflect it of glass, or maybe using aperture to cut parts of the beam.

It all depends on what you are trying to achieve. I recently purchased a Z-Bolt 450nm 5mW pointer...someone on the forum was wondering whether they were using a filter to reduce the power, and they definitely appear to be using an aperture to reduce the beam dimensions. I plan to take it apart and find out.
 
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Use a Mohgasm 1.6A circular driver, and drive it off 4-4.5V. You'll get just the results you're looking for.

15977e2a09d6fc548d07bac8585d6bbf.jpg

In real life it's a little dimmer than the picture looks. But it makes a pretty clean dot with a nice set of wings :p won't burn even a tattoo at focal point, about as bright as a 1mW gas station pointer
 
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Use a Mohgasm 1.6A circular driver, and drive it off 4-4.5V. You'll get just the results you're looking for.

Um... what. Typo? lol

Well, you could power a linear at half voltage but I'm not sure it will quite be as low as expected. I possess a 1.45A Mohgasm that I can do some testing on to see just how well lowered voltage effects the driver. I would like to note that I have a M140 that outputs 1W at 700mA 4.46V so not all diode's will output the same and you could still end up with way more power than expected.
 
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^^ No typo. I'm not sure what you're trying to say. A Mohgasm IS a linear driver, and there are round ones
 
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Alright, it just sounded odd to me and looked like linear was replaced for circular.
 




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