What does a laser diode need

[Marco Botha]

I am building some lasers with a 505nm diode and 405nm but need info what a laser diode need to work at its rated power
When I power the 405nm laser diode with 5V the voltage output wil drop to 3.5V as it is current limited for the laser, but the question is should I increase the voltage that it is stable at 5V while at constant current which is 60mA for the 405nm
The circuit is I used is 7805cv constant voltage with current limiting in the first stage of the circuit
Or should I just use a LM317 and increase the current to what I need is 160mA and leave the voltage to where the current I need

 

[Alessandros]

It is best practice to drive laser diodes (and LEDs) with constant current, so I would suggest the LM317 (even though it's current limiting, not constant current). Note that it has a dropout voltage of 1.2V in this configuration, which places a minimum on your input voltage.