Macro pics of <5mW Laser Diode

[Nutball]

I found this module out of a dog laser that had been lost and trampled in someone's yard a year ago. The diode must be less than .1mm, maybe even around .05mm or less wide. Super tiny

 

[Singlemode Laser]

Nice pictures. What camera and lens are you using for this?

Singlemode

 

[Nutball]

Sony wx220 looking through either a 50mm 1.7 lens or a 24mm 2.8 which isn't as good (too much magnification which causes distortion)

 

[Singlemode Laser]

Thanks, very nice pictures!

Singlemode

 

[Pelagius]

So much coming out of something so tiny

 

[lasersbee]

Nice clear macro pics...

Jerry

 

[paul1598419]

Those are some great macro shots of a laser diode. Even has more depth of field than I would expect.

 

[LewDude]

Very cool! What they all said ^

 

[Nutball]

I was powering it with a little more than just enough to light it @ 2.1v, hardly enough to form any noticeable unidirectional emission. A little more power, and a huge contrast forms between light going in many directions and the main beam. this one was supposed to run on 4.5v of button batteries. @4.8v and point blank range shining on a black sharpie spot on my skin, no lens in the way, I felt no heat at all, but maybe I could if it was focused at that distance (about 1mm from the diode). Just putting the <5mW red laser power in perspective.

My only problem now is finding the right size pen or junk laying around to make a pen host.

 

[RedCowboy]

Here's a couple of a nubm06, you can see the p/n junction behind the facet and the highly divergent beam, also at low power you can see the whole bar glows.

 

[Nutball]

Interesting

 

[paul1598419]

Are you planning on using this little red diode you found, Nutball? If you do, the Vf is much lower than 4.5 volts, so you will need a driver for it. The Vf is probably somewhere around 2 volts. But, don't think you can power it with 2 volts in batteries without a driver because that could still burn the diode out.

 

[Nutball]

It is complete with a switch, battery spring, and resistor for limiting current. So I'll just give it 3x 1.5v batteries like what it took, but I'll use batteries bigger than buttons, but not bigger than AAA

 

[paul1598419]

Is there only a resistor to limit the current? That is incredibly cheap, if that is the case. Since laser diodes effective resistance decreases with heat and current, it will only limit it until it no longer can. But, if the diode is rated for much more current than what is allowed to flow through the resistor, it could work and not fail.