Sharp GH04955A2G/ The New 495nm diodes

[DrMario]

I believe the yellow diode laser is more than just a laboratory "curiosity". They are used in ophthalmic operations presently.

Really? If so, wow. I wonder how much they cost - probably outside of our budget.

 

[badboybilly]

This is all great but for peaple like me that prefer the 477 sky blue 488 was way to green to my liking so these are going to be very similar to the 505s !

 

[paul1598419]

This is all great but for peaple like me that prefer the 477 sky blue 488 was way to green to my liking so these are going to be very similar to the 505s !

These are much more blue than the 505nm diodes. Even the 502nm dioes are greener than these are. These look like they are on the edge between blue and green to me. Sometimes they look more blue, while other times, more green. It is a totally different color to my eyes.

 

[WizardG]

I believe the yellow diode laser is more than just a laboratory "curiosity". They are used in ophthalmic operations presently.

I'll have to look that up. I thought all the yellow lasers being used for eye surgery today were DPSS.

Cool.

 

[badboybilly]

This 488 is much greener to me and the camera so 495 is way more on the green side than blue, not saying it isn’t nice and great news but I would only like 495 if it was in the 4-5w range that would be something, let’s hope sharp makes the next batch 2w diodes.

https://youtu.be/RaBTv6Pw_9o



And look how much greener 491 to 488 is!

https://youtu.be/jE-Nhuw7_UI

 

[ZRaffleticket]

Might be waiting a loooong time on that Billy! I still do suggest trying out a 485 when they come out, they're almost not green at all, unless you're comparing to 450nm.

I do wish they kept the 480s as 475s instead. A shame really...

 

[paul1598419]

IDK, my 488nm argon looks blue in person, and these new 492nm to 495nm look right on the edge. Cameras and monitors are not the best way to show these colors, though my Canon seems to do a fairly good job of it.

 

[RA_pierce]

So did these just drop out of the sky into the mailboxes of a few of you guys?
I hope I didn't miss another eBay sale of unique diodes. Or did some of you go in on a purchase direct from Sharp?
495 is just what I've been waiting for since I started in this hobby about 12 years ago.

 

[Benm]

Sounds like a pretty attractive wavelength - what you name a color is subjective, but it certainly is an interesting one that's still very visible per mW.

What is the price point for such diodes at the moment, and are they single mode?

 

[ZRaffleticket]

So did these just drop out of the sky into the mailboxes of a few of you guys?
I hope I didn't miss another eBay sale of unique diodes. Or did some of you go in on a purchase direct from Sharp?
495 is just what I've been waiting for since I started in this hobby about 12 years ago.

Kinda. To both questions...

Were you a part of the 480nm/505nm initial bumps? I'll explain that if you weren't around... just ask. Lot to write with those.

These 495's however came a bit afterward. Two popped up on ebay, I grabbed one and dr.laser grabbed the other. I put one in a host straight away and, like an idiot, didn't tighten the set screw enough and eventually the leads shorted out the diode. Badboybilly ended up buying the other one that measured 488nm. I estimated mine was 490nm... it was very close to 488nm, but visibly greener.

Sometime around here I got confirmation the 480nm diodes were tests to get to 488nm diodes, so I assumed the 495's were more refined versions closer to target. The 488's coming out have the GH04855A2G model # and were slated to release "within a few months"

Then silence for a little while.... and sanwu got a few for a lot of $$$, and did some sort of drawing for it here on LPF. That one also was 488-490nm. Then beamq added a listing for the diodes for $3k/pc, which are NOWHERE close to what they're worth. Not even in the same galaxy.

Fast forward a month later, and then sharp suddenly listed the diodes in their lineup. After checking around, there was a supplier that said they had a few. I signed myself up for 10 before a price was even settled on, that was last Friday (December 29th), and I purchased new years day (monday), and were in paul's hands Wednesday.

__

tl;dr: some popped up on ebay, and they did appear out of thin air. Since these are in the lineup I'm optimistic they're here to stay, at least for a little while. Definitely longer than the 480's which weren't really even acknowledged to exist


Edit:

Sounds like a pretty attractive wavelength - what you name a color is subjective, but it certainly is an interesting one that's still very visible per mW.

What is the price point for such diodes at the moment, and are they single mode?

Yes these are single mode (and also - the sharp diodes beam specs are about as good as the BDR-209's, if you forget about the square box reflection some lenses show)

Edit 2:
From about 25 feet, BDR209 vs 480nm. I assume the 495 will have the same beam specs as the 480's and 505's do.


I haven't worked out a price I'll sell them at... Tentatively between $40 and $100 per. I still need to factor some costs in, but I expect the lower end of that estimate

 

[paul1598419]

I have finished measuring all ten diodes now. I also ran one up to 350 mA until it was very hot to the touch. I did this just to see how much these can drift with high current and high temperature. The one I tested drifted ~6nm, but there is no way one of these will get that hot, nor should it be driven so hard. At 275 mA with decent heat sinking it shouldn't drift more than 2nm from what I've seen with these diodes.

 

[ZRaffleticket]

Huzzah!

Thank you again for measuring these diodes out Paul. I'm leaning toward keeping the 493.2 from the first 5, I think that will push up to 495nm at 275mA nicely.

Which one are you hanging onto Paul?

 

[paul1598419]

PM sent. :yh:

 

[styropyro]

these are available again? awesome. missing out on the first batch sucked. most importantly, where can I insert money and get pretty diode?

 

[Rivem]

these are available again? awesome. missing out on the first batch sucked. most importantly, where can I insert money and get pretty diode?

Join the chat! Waiting on another batch now, and you'll hear about it there first. Lazerman is posting his updates there in #diode-chat.

Edit: PM me if you have connection problems.

 

[paul1598419]

these are available again? awesome. missing out on the first batch sucked. most importantly, where can I insert money and get pretty diode?

Unfortunately, these are all spoken for. But Lazerman121 has 10 more coming any day now. You might want to PM him. These first ones went quickly.