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Um... oops

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Kewlguy

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So yeah I was lookin around trying to figure out why I only saw a red dot on my laser diode. it's rated at 1W but for my project i only needed 300mw. so um.... i sorta looked into it. I didnt realize that there might be IR light coming outta it. I literally JUST saw this site and read not to look into the diode. Am I gonna go blind? Do I call 911? I dont notice anything different. Forgive my ignorance.
 





Kewlguy said:
So yeah I was lookin around trying to figure out why I only saw a red dot on my laser diode. it's rated at 1W but for my project i only needed 300mw. so um.... i sorta looked into it. I didnt realize that there might be IR light coming outta it. I literally JUST saw this site and read not to look into the diode. Am I gonna go blind? Do I call 911? I dont notice anything different. Forgive my ignorance.
Click to expand...

No, don't call 911... IIRC the damage (if any) has been done allready... Just take it easy, and maybe go see your eye doc.
 
If you still see the same as before, you did not hurt yourself.

If you see spots, blurs, or feel pain... get an appointment with an eye doc asap.
 
What diode? What current? How bright did it appear? It may well be worth an eye appointment anyway just to make sure.

Just throwing it out there, but as a first post, it's a pretty careless and unlikely thing to do. We've had people sign up and post stuff like this before just to elicit a response. More detail would be interesting - what's the project, and why do you need so much power? If you have the skill and expertise to be playing around with a 1W diode, you really should have known (both to have safety goggles and not to look into it).
 
well.... i dont see anything different. so that's good thanks.

this diode: (ebay laser)
1000mW 9mm LASER DIODE 808nmT0-5 GREEN BLUE LASERS YAG

i ran 2.5V @ 29mA when i was lookin into it. It wasnt bright at all. i've turned it up to 200mA (not going higher than that). the diode got hot and a small red led lookin light came on but that's it. no green at all.

I'm doing a project to transfer power from point a to point b wirelessly (using laser beam) I needed a lot of power because i need to make my container with my photovoltaic cells bright to help with the power transfer.

and no i'm still new to lasers. I didnt know they emit IR (hell i didnt know IR lasers existed till i got to this site).
 
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The wavelength 808 nm is IR. You could see that IR if you viewed it on a screen through a digital camera or webcam, because they pick up IR. Green is made using a 1064 nm diode and special crystals that halve the wavelength. Look around this site if you want to know how to do that.
 
wait... so you just have an infrared diode and no crystals of any form??? how did you expect to get green from it then...
 
He was probably confused and just saw the word "green" in the description and thought that would do the trick. Once upon a time, we were all noobs...
 
Lumify said:
He was probably confused and just saw the word "green" in the description and thought that would do the trick. Once upon a time, we were all noobs...
Click to expand...

yep. by chance anyone know if photo-voltaic cells pick up IR?
 
Kewlguy said:
this diode: (ebay laser)
1000mW 9mm LASER DIODE 808nmT0-5 GREEN BLUE LASERS YAG

i ran 2.5V @ 29mA when i was lookin into it.
Click to expand...

No, at that current, a 1W LD was just not lasing, it's before the threshold ..... it was emitting, probably, some very dim red light as a common led, so you must not have any problem from that.

But remember, that IR light IS DANGEROUS, more than visible ..... your eyes see 808nm as dim red also if the laser dilde is lasing at full power, and this make it also more dangerous, cause, if with visible light, the eye have a reaction from high intensity light blinking, with IR, the eye don't notice it, so you see the damage only when, usually, is irreversible .....

If your diode was lasing at 1W, you probably had suffered some damages also if not good focused ..... so, if you're planning to mount it in a module and use it for something, please get a pair of goggles for IR, and never (and i mean NEVER) try to look inside a working laser diode of that power, especially if IR .....

Always remember, safety first .....
 
Lumify said:
Green is made using a 1064 nm diode and special crystals that halve the wavelength.
Click to expand...

Just want to offer a little clarification, direct doubling is highly inefficient. Green is [usually] made using an 808nm pump, that lases an Nd:YVO4 crystal, which doubles the wavelength to 1064nm, and then a KTP doubles that down to 532nm. I say usually, because in some systems, such as a LaserScope, a KTP:YAG flashlamp system is used to produce the green.
 
that ebay add was just for trickery.... it states blue also.. can you post pix of your diode and your whole set up?

michael
 
Back to what he needs this laser for...
Kewlguy said:
I'm doing a project to transfer power from point a to point b wirelessly (using laser beam) I needed a lot of power because i need to make my container with my photovoltaic cells bright to help with the power transfer.
Click to expand...

If what you want is to to transfer power from one point to another wirelessly, then I really really wouldn't recommend doing it with a green one, because greens are highly inefficient. The only reason they are so popular is because green is the most visible light to the human eye. If you want to efficiently transfer power, the best way would probably simply be with that IR diode. If you want to be able to see the beam, you should go with red (650nm) or violet (405nm). Red is cheaper than violet, but IMO violet looks cooler :cool:. I'm not sure which one is more efficient.
 
its a multimode diode though, he will never get any form of beam out of that without multiple lenses (FAC etc). with a standard convex lens alone he will get 50cm beam at the absolute most before it diverges too much
 
HIMNL9 said:
No, at that current, a 1W LD was just not lasing, it's before the threshold ..... it was emitting, probably, some very dim red light as a common led, so you must not have any problem from that.

But remember, that IR light IS DANGEROUS, more than visible ..... your eyes see 808nm as dim red also if the laser dilde is lasing at full power, and this make it also more dangerous, cause, if with visible light, the eye have a reaction from high intensity light blinking, with IR, the eye don't notice it, so you see the damage only when, usually, is irreversible .....

If your diode was lasing at 1W, you probably had suffered some damages also if not good focused ..... so, if you're planning to mount it in a module and use it for something, please get a pair of goggles for IR, and never (and i mean NEVER) try to look inside a working laser diode of that power, especially if IR .....

Always remember, safety first .....
Click to expand...

Apart from the clearly and well explained dangers of IR, etc... :gj:
I think the most interesting word here is highlighted.

So close to d*ldo! I've been studying for an mixed engineer's qualification all year and every time I've gone to type the word, 'diode', it's come out, 'didoe'. Every time I see that I think it looks like, 'd*ldo'! Now this may just be my dirty mind but in my last assignment I thought I'd actually type it. The assignment was for a DC Power supply and I quote...

"... The output from the bridge rectifier is now a more or less steady 15V, (Reduced from 16.5V through expected losses due to the operation of the d*ldos)..."

My tutor spotted it but I has already printed out a correction sheet as it was just for kicks. Not to try and get something passed a respected imparter of knowledge!

I still chuckle to myself when thinking of it...

Sorry for off topic post but I thought I'd share that one.

M
:)
 
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