Feeler: Murder/test fund for Oclaro HL63163DG 633nm single mode laser diode.

[Marco Polo]

Oclaro HL63163DG 633nm @ 100mW

About 165 bucks shipped for a single one. Lower rates apply if buying multiples.

I would love to see one of these put to the test. I don't have the equipment to test it but I'm willing to throw in some cash (30 to 50 bucks? better than buying a bag of weed with the money) towards a murder fund for one or two of these. I can only imagine what it would look like in a handheld, and how far it can be over-driven. Nice, red-orange, HeNe-like light. I bet it would be pretty cool.

Any interest? The price on these is kind of high, but I think low enough that it might be worth a test, if one hasn't been done already. If they can hold up to pressure, I'll be tempted to get one and do a C6 or something like that.

PM me, let me know, could be worthwhile

Thanks!

 

[IsaacT]

I want to just buy one! Dammit!

Edit: I just saw the webpage says 636nm....not enough of a difference IMHO.

 

[Marco Polo]

I'm not sure why the title of that page says 636nm. The datasheet states that 636nm would be the maximum wavelength, with 630nm being the minimum. The "638nm" single modes are only nominally 638nm (same as this diode is nominally 633nm); their data sheets state something like 643nm as the maximum WL, and it probably red-shifts a bit with higher drive current on top of that.

I probably won't fork out for a whole diode on my own just yet (although I might do so later, maybe I'll put it in my revamped Laser 303 when I get that sorted out) but I would be quite willing to contribute part of the cost on the chance that this might be noticeably different in color.

I tried to find 633nm vs 638nm on the relative brightness chart... but I can't find the chart. I swear I saw it the other day, but now I can't find it to save my life, LPF or google search, doesn't seem to exist. Bah.

 

[IsaacT]

If I got one of these I would feel obligated to run a TEC with it to try to break down into the 620's.

 

[Alaskan]

I had to go look and see what the interest was all about, found this:

High Power 633nm Red Laser Diode Poised to Smash He-Ne Gas Laser Market.

 

[rhd]

A murder fund doesn't seem like the right approach for this diode. In my mind, this diode is best *under-driven* to keep the wavelength nice and low.

I am skeptical that it can be over-driven anyway, as it likely shares characteristics with the HL63133DG.

In short, I'm waiting for the price to come down on these so that we can just buy + enjoy their colour (not the power). I wish DTR stocked them.

 

[Marco Polo]

A murder fund doesn't seem like the right approach for this diode. In my mind, this diode is best *under-driven* to keep the wavelength nice and low.

I am skeptical that it can be over-driven anyway, as it likely shares characteristics with the HL63133DG.

In short, I'm waiting for the price to come down on these so that we can just buy + enjoy their colour (not the power). I wish DTR stocked them.

Well, I'm overdriving my 638 and 650, so chances are they're being long-shifted a bit... the 633, even if overdriven a little, would still be shorter wavelength, so I'm not worried about that.

Regarding the HL63133DG, I take it you mean the laser mW would likely "cap out" at a current level not far above factory spec? I'd probably run it at 250mA in that case.

In any event, without an actual test all we have are guesses. Educated guesses maybe, but no hard facts.

 

[Atomicrox]

Interesting.. these might be binned HL63133DG's. I also think the deal here would be to run them low and get a low WL, not much use for a murder fund.

But I don't suppose a <5nm difference is worth this much, so I'll pass

 

[Marco Polo]

I suggested a "murder" fund because I'm mainly just interested in finding out how durable this diode is. Maybe it will be durable and it will be enough to merely put it to the question, rather than killing it. I assumed that the wavelength would be shorter than the 638's since given the data sheet info.

Although, now that it was mentioned I do wonder if it might just be a binned HL63133DG. I would be pretty disappointed if that turned out to be true, but a lot of the specs for the two diodes (threshold current, divergence, nm shift per °C, etc.) are substantially identical. Maybe the HL63163DG mA and mW are de-rated to minimize wavelength long-shifting. At any rate, if the 633's aren't binned then the two are at least closely related.

I don't suppose Oclaro would be willing to just tell us plainly.

I'm still willing to contribute up to half of the cost of a single diode for the purposes of stress testing and, if possible, determining whether the HL63163DG's are binned outliers of the HL63133DG, or a different product altogether. Definitely understand where people are coming from in passing on this though, since it's only -5nm and impressive results are not guaranteed.

Thanks for the input so far. It seems like red laser development has run aground for the time being. Hopefully they can catch a break and get closer to 620nm sometime soon.