473 nm high power portable recommendations?

[Radim]

Dear fellow laserists,

some of you might noticed, I love DPSS lasers and keeping my eye on awesome 473 nm wavelength even before I dreamed about 589 nm. My life way brought me to use lasers in my art and therefore I'm looking for a portable laser. For my purposes, which are evident from my laserpainting thread, I just need the highest power available for this laser and to have it portable. I know with these conditions I should expect the power max around 100 mW, what I consider as minimum for reasonable laserpainting of my style. However if you know about any option with variable power, I would appreciate it as for near field it is better to have lower power - one of the reasons why I love WL EVO.


I took a look on these lasers:

1. Dragon Lasers - also nice beam specs, reasonable power (50 mW and likely more) and probably price, Spartan host is awesome - the most favourite of my collection, has thread mount for additional optics, but lacks advanced safety features, but likely out of stock (I emailed Adam with availability question, they are likely to make it, however he mentioned the laser is power instable and mode hopping - any experiences with 473 nm Spartan?).
2. Optotronics - awesome beam specs, but low power (maybe they might be able to make a higher power?), high price, no thread mounts for additional optics (?), out of stock (I might ask for availability).
3. CNI - DL laser uses module from CNI, so the same - but CNI offers also 80 mW, however I do not like the host as much as Spartan, but it has advanced safety features, also the price might be higer?
4. Other companies - I found seem to be resellers of CNI (one even in Switzerland), or does not seem to be very reliable. Did I miss some option?

I would appreciate your recommendations and experiences and if I missed some options, please let me know. Also 465 nm diode might be interesting as close to 473 nm, but I personally prefer DPSS - better beam specs due to larger optical cavity, nicer process of radiation generation and also diodes are much more sensitive to back reflections - might be an issue with light painting brushes I ordered recently and which I plan to use with lasers.

Thank you very much for your recommendations and opinions.

 

[Alaskan]

I am growing fond of DPSS too, my first interest were merely 520nm laser diodes, but then I found DPSS, especially like YAG driven SHG crystals. However, the NUBM07E puts out a very nice 465nm baby blue beam. You can buy them from DTR LPF google shop cheaper than on ebay: 4W NUBM07E 465nm Laser Diode In Copper Module W/Leads | eBay - Get one of these and put it in a host you can find at Survival laser and you are in business.

 

[BowtieGuy]

I think Alaskans NUBM07E choice would be about your best shot for a very high power, and it gets pretty close to 470nm when pushed at ~5A.
Another option, if you're not wanting to go that high, and are going to stick with the 100mW options out there, would be the new Jetlasers PL-E Mini 473nm DPSS @100mW. :yh:

 

[Alaskan]

PL-E Pro would probably be the better option for a quality pointer. I forgot about that one, 100mw isn't "high power" but as DPSS goes, that is a lot for that wavelength, higher power DPSS is $$$ and I don't know where to get it in a portable unit.

 

[Radim]

Thanks a lot guys, I enterily forgot to include Jet Lasers in my selection although I knew about them!

PL-E 473 nm at 100 mW seems to be an perfect option for my purposes. I was fascinated by their lasers looong time ago... Also a very nice beam specs for 473 nm. I feel I'll spend (or invest?) some money very soon. Good I asked here. Now what to select? Should I go for black finish or silver finish? Code switch or mechanical? Code switch! Which tail cap? I'll add beam expander for sure... Hmmm.... Soo many options, I need to go through them carefully. Just talking to myself...

I'm also considering semiconductor laser option, but I still think with DPSS you get better beam specs. However for further lasers I'll include 465 nm (or something like this) in my selection as well - just (not only) because you can never have too many lasers and also higher power might me needed sometimes.

Regarding "high power" definition I personally take it more relatively to the technology and portability - that means for DPSS the mW value is lower compared to diode and I consider even 50 or 100 mW as high power with DPSS (especially these special wavelengths like 473 nm, 589 nm etc.).

Anyway in general I think anything above 5 mW should be in high power laser category - just because of safety. But this is very subjective as term beauty is for example. So, it might be a nice discussion - for somebody anything below 1kW might be a low power.

 

[Alaskan]

That is a tough choice, I love black, but silver is so nice. I can't decide but if you want one, you will.

 

[BowtieGuy]

I've got a couple full size PL-E's, both are silver, but for the 473nm I'd definitely go black. I think I'd go with the mechanical switch also, but that's just me.

 

[Radim]

Yes, this is it! I feel it the same. All my hosts are more less black. So, maybe? But I think I'll go for black again, it might be more practical. What if in some of my (sometimes crazy) setups I'll need to shine another laser close to this host? I have some ideas of putting laser in some object (like stump) to get this object emiting beam. Black would be more safe for my purposes. I might also cover the host with piece of black paper or something as solution... So even this can't make me decided. I need some time for decision...

In the case the silver option is silver even in the "chamber" behind aperture (?) it is better to have it black to reduce stray reflections in close field... However such a laser host should have this thing solved just because diodes might be sensitive to back reflections...

Edit: Thanks for recommendation regarding black version. Regarding the switch, it seems they only offer mechanical for 473 nm PL-E, also the "flyer" says "TEC cooling version is coming soon".

What? They consider even this? :thinking: Hmm... I'll have to write them some questions. Cooled version would be much better for stability especially in summer, where I experience significant power drop with my EVO for example. It is not visible by beam itself, but it just does not burn as well as in lower temperatures (below let's say 25° C). I know every DPSS is different, but TEC would be nice to have. Many questions and the site is a bit confusing as usually with chinese companies...

 

[Razako]

Definitely consider the Jetlasers PL-E or PL-E mini series for 473nm. Best deals you will find out there.

 

[Alaskan]

I keep hoping to see someone double up the power output in these rare wavelengths for pointers by building a small PBS cube combiner inside a head which is just a little bit larger, to allow two DPSS units inside one pointer. I suppose the would cost so much more there wouldn't be enough demand.

 

[ultimatekaiser]

It's more just impractical than an anything. It's already extremely battery intensive, and gets hot, and suddenly you're asking do you want to double up everything? Not really realistic on passive cooling. Eventually you hit that threshold of where you just absolutely have to have active cooling to make it work well. Anything above about a 1-2 W pump really just doesn't work and in a handheld very well...

 

[NightExplorer96]

I don't think CNI will even ship a portable laser to the EU anymore. I asked and they won't even ship laser pointers to Europe anymore

-Alex

 

[Radim]

The trend what I observed so far is that all DPSS lasers, where alternative diode exist, are being replaced by them as diodes are just more efficient and they provide much more power. Like 532 nm and 520 nm, 465 nm (or even 445 nm) and 473 nm is also the same case... It seems to me it is not that very important for common consumer to get small beam diameter, low divergence, (near) TEM00 and other characteristics typical to solid state lasers. Of course cost is much lower for diodes... So, it is much harder to get DPSS portable than diode nowadays. I do not think there will be much more developement in DPSS portables compared to diode portables. Speaking about double 473 nm what would be the problem to put there more powered module, adjust host for better cooling and add more batteries to ensure sufficient current? I think just the cost, not much people would buy it, if there is cheaper alternative in diodes. Interesting is I noticed Optotronics advertise new 1.4 W + option of 532 nm portable, what with the beam specs advertised would be great DPSS beast burning through everything it touches... I just wonder how much heat it produces and how long the batt will last?

I took a look on some LPF reviews on 473 nm PL-E and I think it is my next laser. I'll write them email with questions to decide finally. So again thank you guys.

Alex, that's a pitty. Why that? Customs issues? Maybe they use resellers in Europe, as I mentioned in OP. CNI has a lot of wavelengths. I wanted to say it would not be very wise to leave Europe market if they offer so many options (I'm not aware about any other company with such a number).

 

[NightExplorer96]

I think it is custom issues Radim, I tried to order a laser from them & make it go through gh Europe but no luck. If you look on the CNI website and "contact" for they have a list of all their worldwide reseller.

JetLasers PL-E is probably the best option price wise honestly

-Alex

 

[Radim]

Great to know. Thanks, Alex.

Anyway I wrote my questions to JL this morning, so I hope to get more info about 473 nm PL-E Pro soon. I'll post here if anything interesting is worth to be shared.

I'm so excited about this laser.

 

[Alaskan]

Ah now I'm getting interested in 473nm DPSS, see what you did.