May Have Found New Laser Diode!

[bobhaha]

So I was pulling apart one of many CD burners I have lying around, and I stumbled apon this.....(sorry for bad quality... took it on my phone)


Front of the diode

Back of the diode

Side view

Its an IR diode, but I have never seen anything like it. It also came with 2 tiny 5mm x 5mm FS mirrors. Also in the sled were 2 beasty magnets... about 2 twice as big as the usual PHR magnets.

Has any one ever seen these diodes? Do they have a name?

I also have a couple of flat open can IR diodes I found today... They will be cool to photograph on a digital camera.

 

[Pontiacg5]

Can you pull that ribbon back a little bit and see if its just a heatsink? It looks about the right size to be just a 5.6 pressed into that little module-y thingie...

 

[bobhaha]

Sure... I'll remove ribbon and PCB now...

 

[bobhaha]

Sorry again for the poor quality pictures...

It's hard to see the 3rd pin on the first image, but you can see it in the 2nd image. The diode seems to be a cross shape (+) pressed into a thin circular heat sink and glue injected around the outside of it (grey stuff in the corners of the cross). Again.. I have never seen anything like this...??

 

[Pontiacg5]

That is a odd looking diode, too bad its IR...

What is that thing on the front? Is that some sort of beam splitter?

 

[bobhaha]

Not too sure... its clear (no tint to it) and fixed onto the inner lip of the heat sink. I would guess that it has the same function as the window on a BR or red diode

 

[Pontiacg5]

IR diodes are not as sensitive as bluray diodes, lots of IR and red diodes are open can. Look at the sled and see if you can tell if the beam goes in two directions. It also might be a IR and red diode rolled into one if it was a CD burner DVD reader combo, and that glass piece might have redirected the different WLs.

I would play around with that glass on the front a little

 

[bobhaha]

No doesn't look like it it gets split at all...it shoots out the front of the diode, hits a FS mirror goes outside the little chamber... hit a 45 degree FS mirror and shines through the lens... It is a very crude setup..

 

[Pontiacg5]

Aww, bummer

 

[RA_pierce]

It looks like a 9mm diode. What are the dimensions?
I can't tell from the pictures if the cross shape is part of the diode or part of the optics mount.

The glass in front is probably either a beam shaping optic or a diffraction grating.
Many modern CD/DVD/BR disc writers/readers' IR diode has a diffraction grating that diffracts the beam on one axis.

 

[bobhaha]

No it is approx 6mm in dia (including the thin circular heat sink) so my guess is that it is a 5.6mm diode. No the diode is defiantly a cross shape... I will get some better pics when I get a hold of my digital camera.

 

[HIMNL9]

Sorry, that looks like a normal 5,6mm laser diode, pressed in a holder (the external tube, that hold also the diffraction grating in the front), and glued with 4 drips of glue (that cause that "cross" shape on the back.

Try to take away the glue with a sharp blade, and you can see if the glue continue under the level of the metallic base of the diode, or if this discover the rest of the circular base.

 

[bobhaha]

Damn.. why are you always right HIMNL9? Yes it was glue... I wanted to give this away in working order so I didn't play around with it much. If i had my camera I could show you why I thought it was a cross... There seems to be an optical illusion.. at least in my eyes, where the groove in the heat sink meets the groove in the diode.. made it look as though the diode was cross shaped, and the glue went all the way down.