Is this bacteria on my lens?

[Benm]

Its probably just dust.. small specks, and couple of fibres by the looks of the picture.

The projection does look like bacteria under a microscope, but thats a bit of visual deception going on. Most bacteria are actually fairly transparant to visible light, and only show up like that using a phase-contrast microscope.

 

[CROPxi]

I think every laser diode has that.
I have dvd payer diode and has the same problem
I had also 2 200mw laser diodes and they had that too :/

 

[DrSid]

This usually is dust on diode window. Pretty hard to clean properly.

 

[GBD]

Ive personally only had one issue with diode's window and them getting dirty, its usually the lens for me that gets dirt, not the diode itself.
This one time, rather then wasting time cleaning the thing, I just de-canned the diode. (was an IR diode). this fixed my problems.

 

[Benm]

Its easy enough to tell. Just hold the laser steady and adjust focus on the lens. Anything that rotates with the lens is on the lens, everything that does not is probably on the diode window.

Crap on the diode is often difficult to remove since it gets baked in place easily, especially things like plastic shavings are a nightmare.