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150mW blue diode - 50$

Exerd said:
Why are blue diodes at 473nm so underpowered and expensive?
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You need to read more. You are talking about two different things in the same question. There are BLUE diodes, but they are still very expensive. Most of the affordable blue laser systems available to us are DPSS modules, NOT diodes.

This thread is about violet (blu-ray) diodes that are being sold as blue diodes.

Peace,
dave
 





daguin said:
You need to read more. You are talking about two different things in the same question.

This thread is about violet (blu-ray) diodes that are being sold as blue diodes.
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I thought I made it perfectly clear what I was talking about.

This is not a Blu-Ray laser forum.

A Blu-Ray laser is not blue.

A Blu-Ray laser is 405nm, not 473nm.

I specifically mentioned "blue" and "473nm", hardly two different things, and hardly a Blu-Ray laser.

Last, what this thread is "about", and what the manufacturer sells under their given description appear to be what's in conflict, and that doesn't change the original intent of the poster. Without much interpretation, it comes out pretty clear to me that this thread was originally meant to be about blue lasers, and not Blu-Ray violet lasers.

:)
 
^True blue laser diodes are expensive in part because they are more difficult to make than violet laser diodes. Even more important though, is the fact that they are not being mass-produced like violet diodes are.

Mass production drives the price down considerably. A company is ordering thousands and thousands of violet diodes, and we're just taking advantage of that by getting a few of those at the same great price as the company that orders thousands of diodes for their optical disk drives. To buy a blue laser diode is a one-off special order. Instead of production runs with batch after back of violet diodes, the diode maker has to stop and make a batch of blue ones as a special order. Naturally, that's a lot more expensive.

Heck, we may even be taking advantage of the drive-making companies even more, by getting diodes after they might attain the status of "loss leader" in some cases. Drive makers may well be paying more for diodes than we are, because they can also make more money by selling disks and things like that. They can take a loss on selling the laser diode and the disk drive, because Blu-Ray disks have a huge profit margin, and selling more drives means selling more disks.
 
mfo said:
It's all a marketing gimmick. Saying that Blu-Ray is blue in color is like saying that an apple is an orange.
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The name "Blu-Ray" is marketing, but calling a 405nm laser a blue laser isn't necessarily an intentional lie. In this case I agree that they're probably trying to mislead, but calling a 405nm laser a "blue laser" isn't necessarily an intentional lie.

Lasers from UV all the way up to "real" blue have been called "blue" since the 1980s, or even longer. Heck, even look at the "blue laser" article on Wikipedia. But especially in scientific texts and papers in my experience, and often the English journal articles published by Japanese scientists it seems, it's VERY common to see "blue laser" referring to violet, blue, or near-UV lasers equally. It simply refers to the laser operating in the blue end of the spectrum, where previous laser diodes operated in the red end of the spectrum. Heck, in Shuji Nakamura's book "The Blue Laser Diode: The Complete Story", I recollect the highest wavelength discussed in the book being only something like 417nm, with almost all of the experimental discussion based on lasers between 400 and 410nm.

Just throwing it out there that you don't necessarily have to correct someone for that terminology, it's a very common way to refer to short wavelength laser diodes for many people. For those people, near-UV, violet, and blue are all "blue lasers", and if they want to know what color a specific laser is emitting, they'll ask for the wavelength. It's just a different terminology, that's all.

But of course, some people can use it to mislead, which should be frowned upon.
 
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Nichia Sell some "blue" (445nm 50 mW), "aquamarine" (473nm 20 mW) and "sky blue" (488nm 20mW) pure diodes ..... but the last time i asked them for a sample, they replied "sure, no problems, they cost 140.000 Yen each one .....", and i left drop the offer (guess why ? ..... :p)
 
Exerd said:
I thought I made it perfectly clear what I was talking about.

This is not a Blu-Ray laser forum.

A Blu-Ray laser is not blue.

A Blu-Ray laser is 405nm, not 473nm.

I specifically mentioned "blue" and "473nm", hardly two different things, and hardly a Blu-Ray laser.

Last, what this thread is "about", and what the manufacturer sells under their given description appear to be what's in conflict, and that doesn't change the original intent of the poster. Without much interpretation, it comes out pretty clear to me that this thread was originally meant to be about blue lasers, and not Blu-Ray violet lasers.

:)
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You are right. I am so sorry. You expressed yourself perfectly. It was obviously my poor english and critical thinking skills that caused the confusion. Go about your life knowing that you have reached Nirvana.

Peace,
dave
 
daguin said:
You are right. I am so sorry. You expressed yourself perfectly. It was obviously my poor english and critical thinking skills that caused the confusion. Go about your life knowing that you have reached Nirvana.

Peace,
dave
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Sorry Dave, I think I may have misunderstood the answer you were attempting to give in your first post.

My bad...
 
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pullbangdead said:
The name "Blu-Ray" is marketing, but calling a 405nm laser a blue laser isn't necessarily an intentional lie. In this case I agree that they're probably trying to mislead, but calling a 405nm laser a "blue laser" isn't necessarily an intentional lie.

Lasers from UV all the way up to "real" blue have been called "blue" since the 1980s, or even longer. Heck, even look at the "blue laser" article on Wikipedia. But especially in scientific texts and papers in my experience, and often the English journal articles published by Japanese scientists it seems, it's VERY common to see "blue laser" referring to violet, blue, or near-UV lasers equally. It simply refers to the laser operating in the blue end of the spectrum, where previous laser diodes operated in the red end of the spectrum. Heck, in Shuji Nakamura's book "The Blue Laser Diode: The Complete Story", I recollect the highest wavelength discussed in the book being only something like 417nm, with almost all of the experimental discussion based on lasers between 400 and 410nm.

Just throwing it out there that you don't necessarily have to correct someone for that terminology, it's a very common way to refer to short wavelength laser diodes for many people. For those people, near-UV, violet, and blue are all "blue lasers", and if they want to know what color a specific laser is emitting, they'll ask for the wavelength. It's just a different terminology, that's all.

But of course, some people can use it to mislead, which should be frowned upon.
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While I do appreciate your enlightenment (and always do), I just find it hard to comprehend that violet is referred to blue. Thank you for this, however.
 
For some reason I find it hilarious that there's a book called The Blue Diode: The Complete Story!

Very tempted to buy a copy just so I could give it to somebody for a birthday present :D

Seriously though, I'm sure it's a very interesting read... but most (if not all) of it would be way over my head.
 
mfo said:
While I do appreciate your enlightenment (and always do), I just find it hard to comprehend that violet is referred to blue. Thank you for this, however.
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No problem. I realized the one thing I might not've stressed enough is that sometimes it does seem to mme that it's a language barrier issue, so that's why I speak up at times.

I guess I just hate seeing language barriers influence people's opinions of others; and it does seem to be a a language issue at times, since it seems to often be Asian/Japanese scientists using that particular terminology.

So no sweat,it's just one of those interesting things I can share.
 
That was, probably, "merchandise/ads" offices guilty, LOL.

They needed a short and catching name for the product, regardless about the real characteristics (as usual :p) ..... "Violet-Ray Disk" was not sounding too good, so they used "Blu-Ray Disk", that sound better (also if incorrect, but who care about that, in marketing field ? :p)
 
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