IR laser package for experimental spot/line heating?

[Thinkerer]

Hi,

New to the forum but I've worked a little bit with high power LEDs for some other lighting projects.

I'm trying to put together a moderate power (1+ W) IR (808 nm is fine) LED system to do some spot heating (and eventually line heating, using a moving mirror) of materials in the lab for an imaging problem we're working on. It doesn't have to be portable, and I have a variable voltage/variable power power supply, heatsinks etc. so the usual prototyping problems will be reduced (I hope) since there's a miniscule budget for this.

I'm trying to figure out how to put the best system together in a reasonable period of time without burning up a pile of parts first. Would the TO-3/808nm packages be a good combination as an IR laser that doesn't require a lot of additional optics, and if so is there a good source for them? Alternately has anyone had experience with Dragon Lasers, who seem to offer a good 1W system for under $400 (hate to spend the money but we're short on time too)?

Any & all advice/comments will be greatly appreciated...

Thanks!

 

[Cyparagon]

What will you be heating? That's a rather important part to leave out.

 

[Thinkerer]

What will you be heating? That's a rather important part to leave out.

Sorry; should have included that - thin polymer sheets, possibly including other polymer, foil or paper laminations. The exposure time would be very short of course.

 

[Cyparagon]

The absorption is so irregular across those materials, you'd be wasting your time with NIR. Have you considered a regular old boring heating element instead? Nicrome wire for example? Why do these sheets need heating?

 

[ARG]

If you do end up deciding to purchase a laser you can buy that laser direct from CNI lasers, it'll probably be cheaper. 400$ seems like a lot for a 1W IR laser and no, dragon lasers is not reliable.
http://laserpointerforums.com/f41/d...ery-displeased-so-far-lpm-7mw-24mw-64890.html

 

[Thinkerer]

The absorption is so irregular across those materials, you'd be wasting your time with NIR. Have you considered a regular old boring heating element instead? Nicrome wire for example? Why do these sheets need heating?

We're doing some thermographic imaging (looking for irregularities), and since thermal diffusion wipes out any contrast *very * quickly in thin materials, the laser is necessary. Boring heating elements including photo flash lamps are too slow to get good frequency data.

 

[Cyparagon]

Looking for irregularities in what? What importance do the irregularities have?