Infra-red IR LASERs - nm

[tsteele93]

I am curious about the different IR wavelengths. I was looking at a site that had 1W 808's and 1W 830's and the 830's were 60% higher in price.

Can anyone give me a quick rundown of the various IR lasers out there and what advantages/disadvantages ther are to the different wavelengths?

Or is there a resource you can point me to?

Thanks so much!

 

[ZRaffleticket]

Well there are a bunch of different types of IR lasers. Some come from direct diodes, others are IR diodes pumped into different doped crystals. These include Nd:YAG, Nd:YVO4, Nd:YLF, YLF and etc. Some crystals are more readily available than others, making price differences, some HUGE.

In your case, you are comparing two different direct IR diodes. 830nm is less common than 808nm and is therefore more expensive. The "practical" purposes of those are to pump the crystals mentioned above to make exotic DPSS systems. (rarely 830nm is more useful than 808nm)

If you want to know more IR wavelengths check out my exotic DPSS wavelength chart, it shows a good deal of IR lasers and where they come from.