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Who here is good with laser optics, specifically a single PCX cylinder lens used to make a line who might be willing to tackle some questions in PM?
Yeah... I usually share stuff when I'm sureIDK, just thought maybe I'd take it off line.
IDK, just thought maybe I'd take it off line. Has anyone taken the output of a laser diode and collimated it with a PCX cylindrical lens and measured the divergence of the lines thickness? Will a larger width cylinder lens with a longer focal length cause the thickness of line to expand less in the distance the same as if using a beam expander, or is all reduction to divergence in the plane opposite of the line lost when turned into a line?
That confirms my thinking guys, that's all I wanted. Thank you.
E: Why: I want to use a 8 inch long PCX cylindrical lens with several laser diodes in parallel all shooting into it for higher total beam power. It will make a large rectangle beam output, but I can combine powers of several diodes that way. Will see, maybe it won't behave as I envision, but want to see how it works out.
I have not seen Planters around in a long time, not at this site. I wonder why? His YT Tech Ingredients is posting drone projects. Maybe he got bored ?
Exactly. That is the answer I would gave. Well said.It... might be easier to understand your question if you drew a sketch.
You can collimate only one axis if you like. I'm not sure why you would want to. The other axis will diverge just as it would without collimation. The divergence of the collimated axis depends on the diode's emitting area and final diameter, which depends on the lens.
Another question on my mind. :crackup:You've not stated which axis. That matters what the answer will be.
That confirms my thinking guys, that's all I wanted. Thank you.
E: Why: I want to use a 8 inch long PCX cylindrical lens with several laser diodes in parallel all shooting into it for higher total beam power. It will make a large rectangle beam output, but I can combine powers of several diodes that way. Will see, maybe it won't behave as I envision, but want to see how it works out.
Are the lenses set from each other sum of their focal lengths? I ask because you moved the G lens but did not say if the large lens was moved too.RCB, really good info, thank you for sharing to that detail, rep when I can.
I found a youtube video you guys might like to see showing four NUBM44 laser diodes knife edged together;
Also, I combined my two videos showing the difference between the beam of this diode when expanded to 2.5 inches wide, and when using a ~6 mm G2 collimation lens.
Video best viewed in full screen HD: https://youtu.be/6-_WhL1PTq4
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Screen captures, left with expanded beam, right no expansion/G2 collimator;
After I said that, I thought it wasn't correct, just moisture in warm air, but isn't that what steam is too?
Edit to answer your edited question: if i adjust the G2 lens much to make the beam wider or smaller inside the tube, I then need to readjust the distance the large PCX lens is from it to collimate the beam better, but only a small amount.
What looks good in the far field and...
Steam is invisible, people often think of seeing steam, but they see little droplets of water instead.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam
Water is overall fascinating.
Awesome post. I'll go through it later on more deeply. Thanks. Rep+.
Edit:
After reading your post, thanks again. A lot of information is there. And I agree on theory, now I want to use this in practice as you did. Just with Opto's Beast and likely not combining it with anything, but definitely I would like to do some long distance burning with that and some BE. I'm looking forward to look what optics I could find in my "lab" to get some BE setup to play with. TEM00 greenie portable DPSS of great power and beamspecs, that could be worth to try. Zoomable and focussable BE ideally.
Damn it... :crackup: I've just realized that I have another laserproject to go... So, if the experiments are ok, I will need more lenses to get, or to invest in some awesome BE. Thorlabs should have some. But those, I'm interested in, cost fortune.
Sorry, off topic... But you can see what your post has done to me. :crackup:
But if you feel guilty I'm thinking about drawing my account low for going for something like this, you do not have to. I was thinking about this idea earlier... Long time ago... Now this has been brought to my mind again.