Light to Frequency converter/sensr at Radio SHack?

While picking up components at Radio Shack, I noticed something in a little baggy called a Light to Frequency converter. I was curious as to what this does, and if it would have any use for us? Could I stick it in my yet-to-be built laser power meter to measure the frequency of the laser as well? Or is this something totally unrelated?

Re: Light to Frequency converter/sensr at Radio SH

I'm not certain, but I think it outputs a signal (probably a sine or square wave, we'd hope for a square) whose frequency is proportional to the light intensity.

Re: Light to Frequency converter/sensr at Radio SH

a_pyro_is said:

I'm not certain, but I think it outputs a signal (probably a sine or square wave, we'd hope for a square) whose frequency is proportional to the light intensity.

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Yeah, i believe it says that it output square wave. I was just curious if we could do something interesting with it and a laser.

Re: Light to Frequency converter/sensr at Radio SH

You might be able to make a power meter, but it would only be able to handle very low power. And you'd need several very stable lasers of known power in order to calibrate it.