Increasing laser output power

[dressur4]

BTW I do look up search on here and to be honest sometimes it's a pain in the backside to wade through stuff when you want a simple question to be asked. and sometimes new threads can bring new answers I have looked up a lot that is why you don't see me ask thousands of already asked questions. Believe me I look up a lot on searching this forum, Thank you all for your replies and help.

 

[Alaskan]

I have some PBS cubes and they are often AR (anti-reflection) coated for wavelength. So, if you decide to go that route you might want to find one for the specific wavelength you are trying to combine.

I do like the idea of using a PBS cube due to being a coaxial method of combining beams instead of spread out side by side when knife edged, too bad we are limited to a coaxial combining of only two beams, but once I saw where a member wanted to have a hole drilled through a cube to add a third smaller beam through the center.

 

[paul1598419]

I do like the idea of using a PBS cube due to being a coaxial method of combining beams instead of spread out side by side when knife edged, too bad we are limited to a coaxial combining of only two beams, but once I saw where a member wanted to have a hole drilled through a cube to add a third smaller beam through the center.

I would have to see that work as I think the hole would ruin the cube for combining even two. Did he every get one up and running?

 

[Alaskan]

I don't think he ever found someone to do the work, or abandoned the idea. Only way I think it could work is if the two polarized beams were far larger than the smaller beam shooting through the hole, because you would loose a percentage of their output, according to how big the hole was. Then the smaller beam would be more divergent than the other two, so doesn't seem very workable to me, unless you just wanted to make a pointer out of it and didn't care one of the beams diverged much faster.

 

[Encap]

I do like the idea of using a PBS cube due to being a coaxial method of combining beams instead of spread out side by side when knife edged, too bad we are limited to a coaxial combining of only two beams, but once I saw where a member wanted to have a hole drilled through a cube to add a third smaller beam through the center.

I would have to see that work as I think the hole would ruin the cube for combining even two. Did he every get one up and running?

The fact that no optics company anywhere makes or sells Cube Beamsplitters with holes drilled in them and that nobody anywhere does this or has a real world use for same makes the issues pretty clear.

See Edmond Optics who sells 10 different types of Cube Beamsplitters----none of them with holes drilled in them for example : https://www.edmundoptics.com/optics/beamsplitters/cube-beamsplitters/

I don't think he ever found someone to do the work, or abandoned the idea..

Exactly ---aside from getting some place to drill a hole without ruining the cube, he probably found out it was a waste of time and money and just a daydream/imagining about lasers/not a viable way to combine 3 beams

 

[Richie89]

You can only combine three lasers of the same wavelength by knife edging them. You can PBS cube two, however. I have a "300 mW" RGB laser that I put heat sinks on the driver outputs and increased all but the green to full power. I can't tell you about its ability to burn, but you don't want to keep your hand in the bean very long. It sure seems to burn me. :crackup:

hey Paul, where is the best place to go to get the stuff to knife edge? i cant seem to find the right stuff on EBAY unless im not typing in the right key words. I also found my new favorite site to get optics for combining wavelengths. Optlaser.com
ill be making a Magenta laser soon and found Optlasers

 

[diachi]

I do like the idea of using a PBS cube due to being a coaxial method of combining beams instead of spread out side by side when knife edged, too bad we are limited to a coaxial combining of only two beams, but once I saw where a member wanted to have a hole drilled through a cube to add a third smaller beam through the center.

There's always wavelength division multiplexing. You can combine more than two beams co-axially using that method, although it's more complicated and takes a bunch more work.

 

[Encap]

hey Paul, where is the best place to go to get the stuff to knife edge? i cant seem to find the right stuff on EBAY unless im not typing in the right key words. I also found my new favorite site to get optics for combining wavelengths. Optlaser.com
ill be making a Magenta laser soon and found Optlasers

Did you look here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Knife-Edge-Laser-Beam-Combiner-445nm-520nm-635nm-Diode-Laser-DPSS-Laser-/132215565460

Also see "Micro Knife Edging / Beam Combiner Module ": https://www.lasertack.com/en/micro-knife-edging-/-beam-combiner-module

And see "Knife-Edge Right-Angle Prism Mirrors": https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=6760&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkvaakPX92gIVhMDICh3l3g9WEAAYAiAAEgITvfD_BwE

 

[Richie89]

Did you look here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Knife-Edge-Laser-Beam-Combiner-445nm-520nm-635nm-Diode-Laser-DPSS-Laser-/132215565460

Also see: https://www.lasertack.com/en/micro-knife-edging-/-beam-combiner-module

OH SWEEEEEEEET! lol
thanks for this, Encap

 

[Alaskan]

Those are the nicest knife edge mechanical assemblies made, in my opinion.... or I just haven't seen better.

 

[Encap]

Those are the nicest knife edge mechanical assemblies made, in my opinion.... or I just haven't seen better.

Agree--is really nice quality at a reasonable price---on a par with the OPT components.
Their patented micro-mirror holder has the functions of a standard mirror holder, with the additional possibility of height adjustment.

There's always wavelength division multiplexing. You can combine more than two beams co-axially using that method, although it's more complicated and takes a bunch more work.

Great video, interesting.

+rep when I can.

 

[Alaskan]

There's always wavelength division multiplexing. You can combine more than two beams co-axially using that method, although it's more complicated and takes a bunch more work.

Post 7 in page one of this thread shows a diagram of what he's talking about.

 

[paul1598419]

To take advantage of the wavelength shift with temperature to more closely align knife edged beams from the same red diode is something I have seen planters do before. You can't do this with just any laser diode, though. They have to shift in wavelength with temperature in a somewhat linear fashion and not all do. But, this was a good example of how one can take advantage of that shift to get a prism to bend the now slightly different wavelengths into each other. I never did get a good explanation of the losses from doing it this way. I could imagine they might be significant.