I need help repairing this red laser pointer

[Coonie]

I don't think red is very boring at all. In fact it's rather vibrant and bold.

 

[paul1598419]

I guess it's a wavelength many of us have seen years ago and are not that impressed any longer with 650nm to 660nm. I still like it, but I have a laser doing close to 400 mW at 650nm. I have many others doing anywhere from 90 mW to 275 mW. It is okay, but now my favorites are 574nm and 488nm in a direct single mode diode.

 

[Benm]

I think the issue with red is that it's just been around so long, sort of the default color of a visible laser.

The first sort of practical continuous operation lasers were red HeNe's. Those operate at a pretty visible red of 633 nm, but usually not with much power ouput (perhaps a few mW for a tube a foot long). Then the red laser diodes came along and very common as components for dvd writers. Their wavelength is a less visible 650-660 nm, though the power output on those diodes can be a few hundred mW - the sort of laser that lights matches and stuff, but doesn't look insanely bright as our eyes aren't ver sensitive to 650/660 nm light.

Skip ahead a few decades and we get all kinds of interesting direct laser diode colors, all the way from near-uv 405nm to green. But what still lacks is an actual direct yellow or orange diode - something around 600 nm.

 

[Nutball]

Thanks for the link, Encap. For $9.99 I went ahead and bought one myself. Don't really need it, but the price was too good to turn it down. I have 650nm single mode lasers I have built myself that are very likely more powerful than this one, 385 mW, but for that price I can always give it as a gift if I don't like it.

Don't forget to tell us how powerful it is

 

[paul1598419]

Don't forget to tell us how powerful it is

I will certainly measure it. If you are interested I will post it for you. I want to see if I can access the driver and adjust it up over 200 mW.