Cool 445nm diode!

Literally

Was just playing around with a dual cascade TEC system and decided to put a 445nm laser ontop, just for fun. It's temperature was sitting at around -10C, although not surprising considering it's a heatsink Would go much lower if I had some bigger TEC's, considering trying it with a 500W TEC when I order one.






Even though it's only a 8nm ish wavelength drop, it's actually visually a deeper blue!

hoooly.. shi.. ops your a mod hahah

pretty interesting. actually, these diodes can withstand higher temperatures too (like hotter to "burn your finger") if you heat they slowly. Maybe a bluer blue can be achieved? ^^

very interesting.

I always thought running it too cold made them run dimmer..?

Looks cool though, nice work!

That's vey funny and interesting, too!
Do you have a meter to check if the output power is in any way affected?
Also, does the condensation create no problems near the diode and on the lens?

@anselm
actually, he needs to be careful with condensation issues inside the housing. Happened to me after I frozen a new wish pen and let it defroze, on my desk.

I'm planning the same low temp testing of a 445 diode in the next 5-10 days. Right now I am working on a LPC-815, but it would be great if you could post any data points that you can such as output, wavelength, voltage drop and current. I too will go much lower, but another set of data would be very useful. DTR will be sending me the A140s but I have a complete A130 projector and will harvest the diodes from it for comparison. Incidentally, what if you just pack some fiberglass/polyester fiber around the heat sink? You might get a bit colder for free.

I was actually thinking of removing the lens, and putting it back in once the module was frozen, however the lens actually kept condensation around the diode very minimal, so the dot returned to a clean state after the experiment.

I actually bought one of those huge 550W TEC's on eBay I can try once I can find a heatsink or waterblock for it Only problem is a waterblock is almost 6x the price of the TEC itself.

Running them cool will make them a bit dimmer, I think the wavelength drops at about 0.2nm/C, so at -12C its around 7.4nm lower.

The water block is much easier to build than buy. If you are just going to run the test for an hour or less then just get an aluminum plate and a cheep thin walled aluminum pot ( anything from Walmart) and fill the pot with ice/water and set it on one side of the plate and your heat sink on the other side. Also, I believe the GaN diodes are much less temp. dependent more like 0.02nm/C. Good luck.