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A Little Info doesn't hurt, right?

Richo

Richo

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Hello,

I'm a complete and total noob when it comes to lasers and I was wandering if you (the pro's) know any good websites with some good information about how lasers work and just general info.

I was thinking of building my first laser (405nm PHR-803T) but first i think it's important to know a little about what I'm doin'

Thanks in advance

Richo
 





i did the search for ya..
Sam's Laser FAQ: Welcome Page

lots of great info there.

as far as other info? there's plenty around here in the forums. just keep on looking around and.. READ ALOT!

i myself am in process of building my first laser using a PHR and have been reading plenty around this forum as well as talking to other people to get advice.
(now if i could get all the parts in sooner.. heheh.. )
 
I have another question aswell: is mW the electrical output of the driver (i.e can it be measured?) or is it the light output of the laser? when it's light output then how many mA should i put through the driver to get round 150-200 mW from the PHR-803T?

Thanks

Richo
 
mW is the power outputted by the laser, the current is what is measured going across the diode and is the thing you would control. Diodes also have to have a certain amount of voltage to start lasing, Blu rays are quite low and PHR is around 3V I think, red diodes require a little more.

watts = power

amps = current

potential difference = voltage

All lasers have a max power, if you go above it then they get to hot and burn out and die, PHR's are only normally capable of around 100-150mW in power and I believe the best current to run it at is 110mA which gives a good life-span to power ratio, at that current it should output around 100mW or a little more.

Might be worth looking over some secondary school physics to grasp a good idea of basic electronics.

Here is a link to some work:

BBC - GCSE Bitesize - Electricity

Go over each of those sections and it'll give a good idea, and help a lot when you come to build a laser.
 
you can't get 200mW from a phr. mW is the power emited by the diode at a certain current. look for a power graph of the phr diode to know how many current you need for a certain power.

Yours,
Albert
 
Richo said:
I have another question aswell: is mW the electrical output of the driver (i.e can it be measured?) or is it the light output of the laser? when it's light output then how many mA should i put through the driver to get round 150-200 mW from the PHR-803T?

Thanks

Richo
Click to expand...

Power output from the driver can be measured and calculated through a graph that shows average powers for the same diode. The mW readings you're going to see around the forum indicate the power measured AFTER the focusing optics (and hopefully after an IR filter for DPSS laser). This means that you can get different readings with similar results depending on where you get the reading. The latter measure is done with a laser power meter that measures light output through heat on a thermopile.
 
Hallucynogenyc said:
you can't get 200mW from a phr. mW is the power emited by the diode at a certain current. look for a power graph of the phr diode to know how many current you need for a certain power.

Yours,
Albert
Click to expand...

i try to find the phr power graph but i didn't found it.can you post a link?
thanks
 
graph3allps4.png

The 3 weak ones are Kes400As.
 
Hallucynogenyc said:
you can't get 200mW from a phr. mW is the power emited by the diode at a certain current. look for a power graph of the phr diode to know how many current you need for a certain power.

Yours,
Albert
Click to expand...

You can get 200mW out of a phr, though it won't last very long...
 
Thanks guys,

I need a fair bit of help because I'm new at this hobby (like, REALLY) and I would like to know stuff about lasers.
Also, I live in Perth, Australia, so it's no wonder that I'm new!

Richo
 
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