Red C-mount portable?

[rocketparrotlet]

How would I go about making a C-mount portable using a red diode? What would the connections look like and what would I power it by?

I am aware that many portable greenies use 808nm C-mounts, which confuses me; why aren't more people doing this with reds? Are there collimation issues that could not be fixed with a standard Aixiz lens?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[laserfreak3d]

Are there collimation issues that could not be fixed with a standard Aixiz lens?

yes it cant be used for a cmount at all.
it all depends on the stripe size and emiter size and most of them are multimode.
and realy expensive

 

[RA_pierce]

It can be done.
The divergence would be terrible and the burning range would be limited, but it is possible. The optics required to collimate the beam of a multimode diode for a more gaussian beam are much more complicated than what we are used to. Aixiz lenses will collimate the beam, but results will be far from what you'd get with a single die.
Fast axis correction lenses can be mounted to the surface of the emitter to improve the divergence of the fast-axis (slow and fast axis diverge at different rates) but it is still not easy to get a "nice" beam from multimode diodes.
You could power it with any regulator circuit that can provide sufficient amperage to the diode. The LM317 should work.

I'm thinking about making one, actually.

The main reason this has not been done (that I know of) is because multi-watt visible wavelength laser diodes are pretty expensive. Besides that, we can easily get >300mW from an open can diode, so coughing up the cash for a multimode c-mount laser diode is not worth it unless you're getting 1W or more out of it.

 

[suiraM]

The fast axis is the trivial part, really. The beam quality along the fast axis is orders of magnitude better than along the slow axis, and the emitter dimension is so small that it allows a simple silica fiber to do the job. In fact, if you have a diode can opener and a microscope, you might be able to do it yourself, although I would suggest practicing on PHR diodes first (they're cheap, and the difference is immediately visible).

The slow axis is trickier, but also not as relevant for a hobbyist.