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Do you think 589nm diodes will come out soon?

Voldy356

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Joined
Aug 21, 2019
Messages
47
Points
8
As you might know, 589nm (amber yellow) lasers are difficult to produce, insanely unstable and very expensive. Just like 488nm (cyan) lasers were a couple of years ago, but then Sharp came out with a 488nm diode, now you can get them for like $30. So I've been wondering, do you think Sharp, or any other company, might come out with a cheap 589nm diode anytime soon?
 





Joined
Feb 4, 2010
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3,278
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cheap 589? I doubt it anytime soon for a few reasons...

Arguments completely against it
1) The sharp 488s almost certainly came about as a by-product of them trying to get from blue to green. They were released between their 450nm adjustments and 515nm release. This happened because the same die material is used in blue and green diodes, and it was reasonable as a stepping stone to go from blue to cyan to green. Based on the model number printed on the can, they probably decided to do a single huge run of 488's and we're still seeing that one run floating around. They only advertised them on their site for about a week, if that. Why they made as many 488s as they did still puzzles me honestly, they sure flooded the market with them. That said, I do still believe these diodes will run out and eventually dry up. It may take years... but I don't think they will keep coming.
2) Since now Sharp has a lineup of cheap R/G/B diodes, they're set for laser light sources intended for displays/projectors. They're likely going to be more focused on improving efficiency and temperature range on their existing lineup.
3) Astronomy won't be as interested due to the better beam specs, wavelength stability and power scalability of other options.

For yellow diodes to exist, there would have to be a push either for yellow or for green coming from red diode technology (which is terribly inefficient and needs a lot of cooling as you get greener).

Potential arguments for it that still don't really work out for it
1) Commercial lighting may possibly suddenly push for laser lighting sources... though at the pace LEDs are going it would be difficult to make a selling point for it like they could do vs incandescent and halogens.
2) Sharp decides to make a RGBY laser projector like they did with a quattron TV line. However... their quattron line had a ton on problems with the additional yellow channel because the yellow sub-pixel needed to be calculated and would often result in inaccurate color given current calibrations and standards not supporting a 4th color channel.
3) Medical yellow lasers. However this would not necessarily drive a low price due to the limited demand and deep pockets of the people who would be buying them.

__

I believe the only way we will see these come out cheaply soon is if some madman decides to do R&D on their own and throw them into the wild like the 565/575 DPSS heads did for a few weeks.
 

Voldy356

Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2019
Messages
47
Points
8
Hi
You thread title says 489, oops not much diff from 488. And yes we know you meant 589. Its all good buddy

Rich:)
Oh dear, I can't believe I misswrote that, didn't even notice. Well, fixed it now.
 




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