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FrozenGate by Avery

CNI GLP-577: The World's First Yellow Laser Pointer

Joined
Feb 17, 2008
Messages
811
Points
43
A true yellow laser has always been on my want list alongside with cyan laser, luckily I managed to score the later but the former is almost impossible for a hobbyist. When 561nm became available, I was pretty excited thinking it will be yellow until I got one. It's too green and it only looks yellow in limited situations.

The next available wavelength in the spectrum is 589nm. It's too golden to be yellow yet many people call it yellow which surprises me.



According to wavelength tools, the range of 576nm-583nm will yield banana yellow with 580nm being the yellowest.

yellow.jpg



PvwUhSU.jpg




I've never heard of commercially available lasers at 580nm but the very next available yellow wavelength is 577nm. It is produced by Coherent in OPSL form with very high powers in bulky units with prices of at least $20k. Not the average laser of LPF member.


CNI added 577nm to their line almost a year ago but I never bothered to ask for a portable version because I know the answer will be simply no. I asked before for 458nm, 480nm , 491nm, 501nm, 607nm and the answer has always been the same so it is unlikely they are going to put their so new wavelength into a pointer.



Recently CNI built the sharp 502nm for me and I decided that it wont hurt to ask about 577nm. Three days later and still no word, I told myself it is such a ridiculous idea that they ignored me.

The next morning an email from CNI telling me that they have been testing the module and they can put it into GLP. I'm in bed and barely awake so I had to read that email few times to fully digest it. My best hope was a PGL and they are offering me a GLP ? This must be a dream !

I had to negotioate the price since it was ludicrous. The new price is still high but this is one time opprtunity and I had to take it.




CNI claims DPSS process which makes it the first 577nm DPSS in the market but what is the process they are using ?

I did some research into this and spent few hours looking for an answer, I found three options of producing 577nm in DPSS process.

1) Sum Frequency Generation of 1030nm and 1319nm, complicated setup and require 2 different pump diodes. Also reported to produce limited power of tens of milliwats.

Fig_1_Schematic_of_the_intracavity_SFG_of_578_nm_yellow_laser.png


2) Frequency doubling of 1154nm from Yb doped fiber, unlikely given that whole thing can fit a GLP.

3) Dy3+ doped crystal pumped by UV/Blue diode, different sources report that Dy doped crystals emit yellow lines at 575-580nm depneding on the crystal compostion when excited by UV/Blue light. The center of excitation bands are 325, 352, 366, 389, 427, 453 and 474 nm.
Also CNI states a tolerance of ±2nm on the specsheet which agrees with reported lasing lines from literature.

Fig_7_Partial_energy_level_diagram_of_the_Dy_3th_doped_Zinc_telluro_fluoroborate_glasses.png


Fig_7_Schematic_energy_level_diagram_of_Dy_3_and_emission_transitions.png



So lets get into the review :drool:

CNI received my payment on 2nd of August , shipped by DHL on the 10th and arrived on the 13th, 2 days earlier than the ETA :wave: However CNI declared the real value on the airway bill so I paid $120 on customs duties. :cryyy:


The usual cardboard box.

IMG_4147.jpg



All GLPs come with this sticker showing the wavelength and serial number

IMG_4151.jpg


Also CNI ships the laser with ND filter installed on the aperture as a precaution to make their lasers <1mW just in case any legal issue raises with customs, they include extra aperture cap without ND filter.

IMG_4149.jpg


This one takes only 1xCR2 battery

IMG_4154.jpg


Yellow photons !

IMG_4156.jpg


The color is exactly what I was expecting, just pure yellow with no tint of green or orange.




This one rated at 5mW, it starts at 5-7mW and decreases to 1-2mW. It falls below 1mW if recommended duty cycle is exceeded. The output is pulsed just like their 473nm and 589nm GLPs.

This LPM graph is for a cold start

577_COLDSTART.png


And this one after few minutes cool down

5773RD.png


This laser definitely like to operate in cold environment. The body gets fairly warm after 1 minute.


The beam quality on this is outstanding, I can safely say it has the tightest beam I have ever seen on a laser with <1mm at aperture and around 23mm at 25m. Absolutely clean circular dot. Keep in mind this GLP has the same assembly as the lab units.

This video shows the dot at 25m




Can't take decent beam shots because the output drops quickly before I can find the perfect settings.

All pictures are directly from my Canon 600D, no color corrections are done unless mentioned .

IMG_4171.jpg


IMG_4220.jpg


Next to 589nm, the 577nm is a little bit shaky here.

IMG_4167.jpg


561nm , 577nm, 589nm

Note these 2 pictures are partailly color corrected to show the 561nm correctly because the camera picks it too green.

IMG_4184.jpg


IMG_4186.jpg



Reflections on glass sphere

561nm (color corrected)

IMG_4202.jpg


577nm

IMG_4214.jpg


IMG_4200.jpg


589nm

IMG_4206.jpg
 
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Wow!! georgeous electric yellow color! the difference between 577 and 589 is insane. awesome laser, i think youre the only one here who has one of these in a portable! +rep when i can because rep dont work on mobile :) how many thousands did this thing cost you??
 
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Wow, nice looking pointer. How much did it set you back? Those tax/duty charges are a pain... I've had my fair share of them.

Nice looking pen host too, are those pieces gold plated by any chance?
 
WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's epic.

EDIT: At CLEO this past May I saw CNI's booth and they had a 577nm Lab unit running I got to talk to their rep who told me there 577nm lasers were DPSS. But would not divulge how it was produced.
 
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Whoa. I didn't expect this happening so soon...

Guess I need one now. Too bad my budget is shot now that I've been catching up on wavelengths.

In low densities of light, is this greenish or still yellow? Kind of like how 488 looks greener as you stray from the spot?
 
This is going to break your heart, Dr.Laser. But, I was talking with UltimateKaiser several days ago and he has on of these 1 watt 577nm lasers. He was able to take the head apart and show me how the optical path works. It was fascinating. The 808nm diode package is in the bottom and is directed up at 45 degrees to the various crystals and on to the LBO. The HR and OC mirrors are not at plane parallel to each other. I think the whole system was ~$30,000.
 
Oh. My. God. That is utterly amazing sir! Congratulations! Must have been like Christmas morning when that thing arrived, and like *** when you turned it on! Such a true yellow now in a portable. I am also curious as to the price, or at least what they quoted you if you're uncomfortable telling us the price you've obtained it for. :D
 
Unique GLP pointer for sure---Lucky to get it---CNI has told other people 577nm is not available in a hand held
 
Wow!! georgeous electric yellow color! the difference between 577 and 589 is insane. awesome laser, i think youre the only one here who has one of these in a portable! +rep when i can because rep dont work on mobile :) how many thousands did this thing cost you??

The difference is crazy, actually 589nm looks orange next to 577nm.

Wow, nice looking pointer. How much did it set you back? Those tax/duty charges are a pain... I've had my fair share of them.

Nice looking pen host too, are those pieces gold plated by any chance?

This one cost me so much, almost as much as the cost of the lab unit.
Those GLPs are my favorite, high quality and classy looking. For the gold plating, I'm not sure about it.

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's epic.

EDIT: At CLEO this past May I saw CNI's booth and they had a 577nm Lab unit running I got to talk to there rep who told me there 577nm lasers were DPSS. But would not devolve how it was produced.

We won't know unless we take one apart :anyone:

Whoa. I didn't expect this happening so soon...

Guess I need one now. Too bad my budget is shot now that I've been catching up on wavelengths.

In low densities of light, is this greenish or still yellow? Kind of like how 488 looks greener as you stray from the spot?

It would fit nicely in your collection.
It's pretty solid yellow in every lighting condition. Strangly it looks 561nm on my iphone camera.

This is going to break your heart, Dr.Laser. But, I was talking with UltimateKaiser several days ago and he has on of these 1 watt 577nm lasers. He was able to take the head apart and show me how the optical path works. It was fascinating. The 808nm diode package is in the bottom and is directed up at 45 degrees to the various crystals and on to the LBO. The HR and OC mirrors are not at plane parallel to each other. I think the whole system was ~$30,000.

I've noticed that on his sig but he never showed it in action. That price is enough to break my heart. Too bad it's not portable lol.


Oh. My. God. That is utterly amazing sir! Congratulations! Must have been like Christmas morning when that thing arrived, and like *** when you turned it on! Such a true yellow now in a portable. I am also curious as to the price, or at least what they quoted you if you're uncomfortable telling us the price you've obtained it for. :D

I was so afraid that customs would mess with me, it was such a relief when the tracking updated with customs clearance. Couldn't believe my eyes when I got my hands on it :drool:


Unique GLP pointer for sure---Lucky to get it---CNI has told other people 577nm is not available in a hand held

That's the usual CNI, will tell you yes today and no tomorrow.
 
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Congrats Dr.Laser, you're now the proud owner of the first 577nm pointer. To bad you had to pay that $120 in customs duties.
On my Samsung tablet, your first pic of the dot on the white box looks to have a bit of green in it, but the next two beam shots and the video look pure yellow. Simply beautiful no matter how we perceive it!

Nice review, thanks for sharing this unique pointer with us. :beer:
 
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Nice video! That's something you don't see very often a yellow dot. :drool:
Just wondering I'm sure is it an optical illusion that the center of the dot is white, was wondering the reason behind that? Just wondering?

Enjoy your new 577 one of a kind laser. I know I would! :)
 
Absolutely stunning unit you've got there Dr. Laser! The way it makes 561 look very green, at least on my iPhone screen, really shows how much "yellower" it is. 577 is also pretty much right dead on yellow. An amazing sight it must be! Hope you gets much enjoyment from it :)

-Alex
 
Yes, I'm pretty sure you have the only pointer in this WL. I wonder which path they are taking to get to 577nm too. Unfortunately, these pointers have limited duty cycles. The nature of the beast.
 
Congrats Dr.Laser, you're now the proud owner of the first 577nm pointer. To bad you had to pay that $120 in customs duties.
On my Samsung tablet, your first pic of the dot on the white box looks to have a bit of green in it, but the next two beam shots and the video look pure yellow. Simply beautiful no matter how we perceive it!

Nice review, thanks for sharing this unique pointer with us. :beer:

I agree the first one is slightly off because I shot it in JPEG and the others are RAW.

Nice video! That's something you don't see very often a yellow dot. :drool:
Just wondering I'm sure is it an optical illusion that the center of the dot is white, was wondering the reason behind that? Just wondering?

Enjoy your new 577 one of a kind laser. I know I would! :)

The white center is a result of over saturation, the center is much brighter than the edge.

Absolutely stunning unit you've got there Dr. Laser! The way it makes 561 look very green, at least on my iPhone screen, really shows how much "yellower" it is. 577 is also pretty much right dead on yellow. An amazing sight it must be! Hope you gets much enjoyment from it :)

-Alex

Thanks Alex. I hope it gets affordable and more people get to see it.
 


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