Most powerful Diode

[ngiapy]

Assuming budget is not an issue, and not considering labbies, which is the most powerful red diode (635/650/660/670nm) that is commercially available?

 

[BlueFusion]

the 200mW phazors.
You can get 400mW diodes but theyre ugly multimode things that either have a beam diameter of like 4cm or divergence of like 3mrad.
And the phazors are 650nm whereas sony 16x diodes sit closer to 670nm.

 

[MarioMaster]

yup 200mw is around the max for single mode diodes :-/

 

[Gazoo]

the 200mW phazors.
You can get 400mW diodes but theyre ugly multimode things that either have a beam diameter of like 4cm or divergence of like 3mrad.
And the phazors are 650nm whereas sony 16x diodes sit closer to 670nm.

The phasers are not visibly brighter, Daedal confirmed this.

I would not rule out the open cans either, mine is putting out a nice ~250mw's running at 350ma's. This is using a meredith module with a glass lens. Only bummer is they are not commercially available and need to be harvested.

The highest red multimode can type diode I know of is made by Sony..it puts out 500mw's.

 

[wooooooolazer]

You could harvest one from a 24x dvd burner, i think they will be coming out in a few months, that would probably be the highest power single mode diode you could find.

...lazer... ;D ;D ;D

 

[ngiapy]

woohoo that's pretty cool! 24x diodes.. Multi-modes means that it consist of several diodes?

 

[philguy]

Assuming budget is not an issue

You'd need to further define that. I bet if you were to offer $500k for someone to design you a red single mode diode, powers might go pretty high...who knows, maybe you'd get a 10W single-mode diode that is just too expensive to manufacture/research. Also splits hairs about "commercially available".

But talking about regular-human's means, the phazor (or maybe the 24x) would seem your best deal.

 

[keltinator]

the laser pointers available at NitroxLasers.com (for under $200) have 240mw laser diodes in them... apparently extracted from DVD burners

 

[BlueFusion]

SPAMMER
DELETE IT
he's been posting this elsewhere.
This fuckbag has done the maglite mod, no driver, and is passing them off for $189!

 

[Gazoo]

the laser pointers available at NitroxLasers.com (for under $200) have 240mw laser diodes in them... apparently extracted from DVD burners

;D ;D ;D What a joke. No diode extracted from any DVD burner has specs. of 240mw cw. If this really is putting out 240mw's, it won't last very long. I doubt this even uses a driver. The funny part is if the diode is running directly off of a couple of AA batteries, the maximum output would only be around 160mw's, and it will drop rapidly. Running directly off a pair of nimh batteries the output will be considerably less. I am sure all my assumptions regarding the NitroxLaser are correct. Piece of junk.

 

[Switch]

I doubt he even tests them.The 240mW figure probably comes of the top of his head.

For only $189, you can own your very own Burning Laser Pointer at a fraction of that cost.

Does that phrase make any sense to you? "For $189 you can have ... at a fraction od that cost" WTF?

R-tard...

 

[philguy]

For only $189, you can own your very own Burning Laser Pointer or go to LPF and build your own at a fraction of that cost.

fixed.


@ngiapy: You can also extract some more power out of a diode by overdriving it, but this can (depending on how much you overdrive it) drastically shorten its lifetime.

So, talking reasonable, if money is not the issue here and you don't mid changing the diode after 100h (or less), take a phazor (if you're lucky, you'll get a freak diode), cool it properly (active, perhaps?) and overdrive it like there is no tomorrow. That way, if you're reeeeally lucky, you might get a 500mW single-mode pointer.
Portability might be an issue, though, as well as lifetime.

 

[ngiapy]

100 hours is still quite a long time huh? haha!

 

[philguy]

Well, lifetime is in your hands. Drive within limits, you might reach 10.000h. Drive well above, hit only 100h, or 10, or 5min. Depends on your priorities...

And I'd say, 100h is not negligible for a pointer. Assuming you'd use it 1h per day, then you'd need three a year.

 

[D3StRoY]

100h is enough, we are all rich enough, thats why we started this hobby ;D

 

[BlueFusion]

Speak for yourself... lasers are driving the rest of us broke!