Laser power metering service !

[FireMyLaser]

Schweet service there. Diachi is a good member.

 

[diachi]

Schweet service there. Diachi is a good member.

Thanks man, just doing my bit

 

[Warske]

So what is the problem with IR... the LaserBee I Thermopile Sensor can easily see
the IR wavelength.... :
Jerry

Nothing wrong with IR. I quite like it myself. But I've seen so much fear and loathing of IR in this forum I thought that was reason enough not to ask someone to test an IR laser for me.

Also, some thermal LPMs that are home made or are commercial but old may be a bit suspect in the IR (Dusty? Someone sneezed on it?). If you see a black coating on the detector, you have some assurance it is actually somewhat flat across the visible spectrum. If it wasn't it would appear to be colored, after all. But to know how it is doing in the IR, you actually have to measure its reflectivity at that wavelength. Of course you must have done that for the LaserBee.

Anyway, I was starting to think of putting something together, and if I keep it simple I could provide the details on this forum so someone else could build it if they want. Seems like some of us might be interested in a simple, inexpensive, stable laser for testing. Nothing fancy. If so I think it probably best to keep it in the visible. Maybe an LPC-815. I wonder if the IR diode in there has the detector in it...

You can stick a bit of glass at a 45* angle in the beam that reflects some of the light into a photo diode, that's how it's done in commercial lasers

Sorry I'm unable to help you with metering. If you are in the US there are a number of members there who I'm sure would be willing to help you out

-Adam

Adam, I forgot to thank you for your generosity and inspiring me to take the extra step. You did a good thing.

I tried the glass in the beam. I used the skylight filter from a camera. I was really surprised that the readings I got were very noisy. The readings kept bouncing around. No, the train wasn't going past at the time... On the other hand, the readings I got shooting the photodiode through an ND 8 filter were very stable. I tried it a couple times with different materials and got the same results.

I am leaning toward drilling a hole in the side of the aixiz module and using feedback to the current regulator. That should be pretty straight forward and take care of the first order temperature effects.

I don't want to hijack your thread. Would you like me to start a new one, or would you prefer it remain here. Its almost on topic!

 

[diachi]

[quote author=lasersbee link=1238760659/0#14 date=1238785082]So what is the problem with IR... the LaserBee I Thermopile Sensor can easily see
the IR wavelength.... :
Jerry

Nothing wrong with IR.  I quite like it myself. But I've seen so much fear and loathing of IR in this forum I thought that was reason enough not to ask someone to test an IR laser for me.

Also, some thermal LPMs that are home made or are commercial but old may be a bit suspect in the IR (Dusty? Someone sneezed on it?).  If you see a black coating on the detector, you have some assurance it is actually somewhat flat across the visible spectrum.  If it wasn't it would appear to be colored, after all.  But to know how it is doing in the IR, you actually have to measure its reflectivity at that wavelength.  Of course you must have done that for the LaserBee.

Anyway, I was starting to think of putting something together, and if I keep it simple I could provide the details on this forum so someone else could build it if they want.  Seems like some of us might be interested in a simple, inexpensive, stable laser for testing.  Nothing fancy.  If so I think it probably best to keep it in the visible.  Maybe an LPC-815.  I wonder if the IR diode in there has the detector in it...

You can stick a bit of glass at a 45* angle in the beam that reflects some of the light into a photo diode, that's how it's done in commercial lasers  

Sorry I'm unable to help you with metering. If you are in the US there are a number of members there who I'm sure would be willing to help you out  

-Adam

Adam, I forgot to thank you for your generosity and inspiring me to take the extra step.  You did a good thing.

I tried the glass in the beam.  I used the skylight filter from a camera.  I was really surprised that the readings I got were very noisy.  The readings kept bouncing around.  No, the train wasn't going past at the time...  On the other hand, the readings I got shooting the photodiode through an ND 8 filter were very stable.  I tried it a couple times with different materials and got the same results.

I am leaning toward drilling a hole in the side of the aixiz module and using feedback to the current regulator.  That should be pretty straight forward and take care of the first order temperature effects.

I don't want to hijack your thread.  Would you like me to start a new one, or would you prefer it remain here.  Its almost on topic!
[/quote]


Hmm that's a little strange, but if the other ones worked that's alright.

If you drill a hole in the aixiz make sure you take the diode out ( don't want to drill through the diode now do you ? )  also make sure that the photo diode doesn't get in the way of the beam as this will give you two problems:

A) you lose a whole bunch of power
B) the diode dies from back reflections.

You may want to keep the diode temperature at a constant also, as temperature shifts will effect power and wavelength, and since you are using an optical means to measure the power, wavelength shifts will effect your readings. You could use a TEC with temperature feedback and control to keep the diode at a stable temperature.

It would be good if you started a new thread in the tutorials, help and repairs section, or experiments and modifications. More people would be able to read it and learn from your experiences  

-Adam

 

[lasersbee]

Hey Warske....
* * yeah... another DIY LPM build is always welcome in the community...
The trick is and has always been... how to calibrate the DIY LPM afterit is built...

There is another DIY LPM that was posted that ran current though a resistor to calibrate
the LPM..... here is a link...

http://laserpointerforums.com/laser...hread.php?t=26332&highlight=Laser+Power+Gauge


I apologize *Adam... I'm a little off topic... but LPMs get me all fired up...

Jerry

 

[diachi]

Hey Warske....
    yeah... another DIY LPM build is always welcome in the community...
The trick is and has always been... how to calibrate the DIY LPM afterit is built...

There is another DIY LPM that was posted that ran current though a resistor to calibrate
the LPM..... here is a link...

http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1226965719/all-


I apologize  Adam... I'm a little off topic... but LPMs get me all fired up...

Jerry

Ha, I'm sure they do Jerry, thats why you have all these ? ;D :

Deluxe LaserBee I (shop use) + Thermopile Head
Standard LaserBee I (shop use) + Thermopile Head
Coherent LaserCheck (Photo Sensor)
Coherent 210 (small) Analog + Coherent Thermopile Head
Coherent 201 Analog
Newport 1825-C Digital/Analog + 818T Thermopile Head


-Adam

 

[rocketparrotlet]

@John.... you have Diachi confused with me... I'm in Germany...  :-/

Actually, it was a reference to a stupid comment I made in the "Other" section a couple of days ago...I thought that Diachi was in Germany, so I posted that because I was too lazy to check his profile, which was apparently quite offensive. Sorry Diachi, I should have checked.

Anyway, thanks for the services, I'm sure that this will be a big help to a lot of people in the EU!

-Mark

 

[diachi]

[quote author=lasersbee link=1238760659/0#5 date=1238772627]@John.... you have Diachi confused with me... I'm in Germany...  :-/

Actually, it was a reference to a stupid comment I made in the "Other" section a couple of days ago...I thought that Diachi was in Germany, so I posted that because I was too lazy to check his profile, which was apparently quite offensive.  Sorry Diachi, I should have checked.

Anyway, thanks for the services, I'm sure that this will be a big help to a lot of people in the EU!

-Mark[/quote]


It wasn't offensive at all It was just a little ignorant that's all.

Wouldn't mind being in Germany though, it's in the hot spot for laser scanners in Europe

-Adam

 

[lasersbee]

Ha, I'm sure they do Jerry, thats why you have all these ?  ;D :

Deluxe LaserBee I (shop use) + Thermopile Head
Standard LaserBee I (shop use) + Thermopile Head
Coherent LaserCheck (Photo Sensor)
Coherent 210 (small) Analog + Coherent Thermopile Head
Coherent 201 Analog
Newport 1825-C Digital/Analog + 818T Thermopile Head


-Adam

Yeah ...And I'm adding a shop modified Kenometer and a Die4thing to that list...

@rocketparrotlet... actually I was just responding to Johns post... I had forgotten about
   your other posts....

Jerry

 

[rangedunits]

[quote author=Diachi link=1238760659/0#21 date=1238797861]Ha, I'm sure they do Jerry, thats why you have all these ?  ;D :

Deluxe LaserBee I (shop use) + Thermopile Head
Standard LaserBee I (shop use) + Thermopile Head
Coherent LaserCheck (Photo Sensor)
Coherent 210 (small) Analog + Coherent Thermopile Head
Coherent 201 Analog
Newport 1825-C Digital/Analog + 818T Thermopile Head


-Adam

Yeah ...And I'm adding a shop modified Kenometer and a Die4thing to that list...

@rocketparrotlet... actually I was just responding to Johns post... I had forgotten about
   your other posts....

Jerry[/quote]
Any spare i can have for free?


-Greg

 

[lasersbee]

Spare.... :-? :-? :-?

I don't have enough for me.... ;D ;D ;D

Jerry

 

[Warske]

It would be good if you started a new thread in the tutorials, help and repairs section, or experiments and modifications. More people would be able to read it and learn from your experiences  

-Adam

Here it is: [highlight]Building a Reference Laser[/highlight] http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1238850031/0

Thanks for your help and good luck with the testing.  Hope I'll see you in the other thread.

 

[diachi]

I'll just leave this BUMP here .

 

[diachi]

Bump .

 

[Krutz]

surely it will get buried and unnoticed that deep in a thread..
Its a great idea, so i offer to test lasers too!
i have a die4thing, with a thermal head, calibrated by robin. from 10mw to watts.
i live in germany, so perhaps there will be some european members interested in this..
send me a pm for details. simple measurements should be no problem (and returned the next day), for larger projects (like calibrating your meter with whatever laser i find here) it could take some days as i am constantly short on time..

hope to help someone with this!

manuel

 

[rocketparrotlet]

Diachi, don't worry about not getting any offers. Remember that your mere offer is a lot of help to this forum, as it provides an outlet for when and where it is needed. You don't have to leave this on the front page, because I'm sure that if anyone in the UK or nearby needs a metering service, someone will let them know you are open for this. (I know I will.)

-Mark