If you live close to a Harbor Freight store, you can pick up an IR Thermometer for $7.99 from now until 4/13/09 (Edit: new coupon is good to 5/11/09). Just print and present the coupon in this ad
You can use this thermometer for checking the temperature of your laser diode and its driver, or...
Introduction to the Simple Laser Power Meter
For $17 or less, you can easily make a Thermal Laser Power Meter (LPM) with an accuracy of about 15%. The low cost includes an inexpensive InfraRed (IR) Thermometer, which you can also use for other things like checking the temperature of your laser...
This is an attempt at building a diode laser that can be used as a power meter reference.
The concept was already discussed (at length!) in the "Power Meter Calibration and Comparison" thread http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1217029972/0 but I want to try to take it a step...
Disclaimer: This project isn't for everyone. The skill level and build time required is practically zero. You won't build up your anticipation waiting for parts to arrive from China, and it costs less than most of you can afford. :)
There is no wow factor here. I'm posting this because a few...
I've been checking out the forum for a few months now, and hope to be able to contribute some ideas to the discussion in the near future.
Some background: Many years ago I worked with he-ne lasers and designed a product using an IR diode laser (I was an electronics engineer at the time). More...