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FrozenGate by Avery

Harvesting / Teardown of the Pico1 Projector - 450nm, 640nm, + non-DPSS Green






Did you ever get the green running?
I know it's small but what are it's dimensions exactly?
I can see the green paired with small thin li-po as a very thin "card style" laser. Maybe it would even fit in one of the roomier slots of a wallet.
 
Very nice to see an analysis on one of these units. The red and blue are as expected, but the green seems to be a very interesting device. I wonder if you ever get it working (unless its frieds already), but the whole concept of direct-doubling a diode output has seen very little practical application so far.

Perhaps more can be learned from this device with analysis before disassembly: the exact current and voltage supplied to the doubled green laser would be very helpful to put it into action. I think building a directly doubled green with any efficiency would be a DIY first :)
 
My guess is we'll see the whole block, sans mems, show up in a RGB pointer before much longer.

I'd attempt it, just so I could claim a 'first' but I have enough projects I need to finish already.
 
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Just as a curiosity ..... have you tried the unit before pop out the diodes ? ..... i mean, for see if they was already aligned as "white" beam mix ?
 
HIMNL9 said:
Just as a curiosity ..... have you tried the unit before pop out the diodes ? ..... i mean, for see if they was already aligned as "white" beam mix ?
Click to expand...

No I didn't - but that would be a neat thing to try. You'd need to figure out how to get the green laser to power up first though, and I was never able to clear that hurdle.
 
It looks like it has four leads. Perhaps it's TEC'd to maintain the diode wavelength right at 1064? And without it it's enough off spec that the KTP won't double?

If you give up on making it work, you should tear it apart and see for sure. Then you (and us here too) will know next time anyone harvests one of these.
 
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rhd said:
No I didn't - but that would be a neat thing to try. You'd need to figure out how to get the green laser to power up first though, and I was never able to clear that hurdle.
Click to expand...

Just thinking ..... taking away the last turning mirror and powering the projector, before dismantle it, may give you some indications .....

I mean this:

attachment.php


Looking at the mirrors and lenses, the beam paths looks like this, and the turning mirror circled in orange redirect the beams on the image optics ..... so, probably just taking it away without move anything other, will give you the beams coming out from that aperture on the side ..... also if the beams are cycled at high frequency, in the normal working system, turning on the projector and shining the beams on a wall probably will give you an indication about how they are aligned (keeping in mind that the cover acts as heatsink for the electronic, so without the cover the chips are not heatsinked, so, quick tests, or in alternative, can work making a hole in the side where the beams comes out and reassemble the cover)
 

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HIMNL9 said:
Just thinking ..... taking away the last turning mirror and powering the projector, before dismantle it, may give you some indications .....

I mean this:

http://laserpointerforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=33475&stc=1&d=1310028168

Looking at the mirrors and lenses, the beam paths looks like this, and the turning mirror circled in orange redirect the beams on the image optics ..... so, probably just taking it away without move anything other, will give you the beams coming out from that aperture on the side ..... also if the beams are cycled at high frequency, in the normal working system, turning on the projector and shining the beams on a wall probably will give you an indication about how they are aligned (keeping in mind that the cover acts as heatsink for the electronic, so without the cover the chips are not heatsinked, so, quick tests, or in alternative, can work making a hole in the side where the beams comes out and reassemble the cover)
Click to expand...

A couple pieces of good news regarding that idea -

The cover here isn't a heatsink, in fact, from memory, it was just a thin piece of black plasticard.

Also, the final turning mirror is VERY easy to remove, and there's even an exit hole already in the casing behind it :)
 
Isn't the cover acting as a heatsink ? :thinking:

Looking at your second pic, i see thermal transfer pads (are those silicone-like dark pads that keep in contact the cover and the surface of the components) ..... they are usually used for transfer heat from components to heatsink, when a precise alignment is impossible, so there must be something in the cover that act as heatsink (also in the 5th pic, under the LD assembly ..... maybe those thin dark grey layers are metallic ? ..... or thermal conducing ?)
 
HIMNL9 said:
Isn't the cover acting as a heatsink ? :thinking:

Looking at your second pic, i see thermal transfer pads (are those silicone-like dark pads that keep in contact the cover and the surface of the components) ..... they are usually used for transfer heat from components to heatsink, when a precise alignment is impossible, so there must be something in the cover that act as heatsink (also in the 5th pic, under the LD assembly ..... maybe those thin dark grey layers are metallic ? ..... or thermal conducing ?)
Click to expand...

You're totally correct - except wrong about what they're cooling ;p

Those thermal transfer pads are for cooling the ICs, they don't make contact with the laser assembly at all.

Look at the third photo. The lasers are under that black plastic.
 
Oh, sorry, i said it in the wrong way, probably ..... i was mentioning about re-place the cover in place exactly for that reason, for not fry the ICs in the middle of the test.

But i don't have one of these projectors (here they cost still a lot), so don't have a precise idea about how much the chips heat.
 
I'd be interested in seeing that green working. My gut feeling is it is a deep well VECDL coupled with a PPLN or PPKTP that has been quasi -critically phase matched. My guess is that the connections are for a small heater element for the PPKTP/PPLN, thermistor for temp regulation, and to the laser diode itself with a common ground. I would offer to try and hack it for you if desired.

Edit: Turns out it's a bragg grating singlemode laser like the kind used in telecoms systems coupled with a PPLN! Single pass too with 70%+ efficiency. It makes sense the heater may be a thin TEC. http://www.corning.com/uploadedFile...rary/2008_Corning_Research/docs/NTR104594.pdf
 
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If they're doubling 1060, wouldn't that make these 530nm greens? Not that 2nm would be enough to notice in this color range.
 
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