Where to find laser diodes?

[xJumper]

Ok so I thought I would start a thread about where you would be able to find any kind of laser diode, that means red, blue, infared, ect...

So we know we can get powerfull reds in DVD Bunners and Blues in BlueRay players but heres an interesting one I found out, getting an IR diode from a TV remote controll.

Is this even posible because I know that TV remotes use IR but is their an actual DIODE inside and how powfull would it be? Could I just take one out and plug it into my Maglight?

That was just a personal question I would like ansered but feel free to go one with the main topic, where can you find laser diodes in household items?

 

[chido]

TV remotes have an IR LED not a diode. The only way to get diodes these days is either get red ones from stonetek or DVD burners, get bluray diodes from sleds from psx box or from the group buy, and IR diodes from CD burners.

 

[xJumper]

Ok so let me get this strait


So red diodes are from DVD-Burners ONLY

BlueRays are from Blue Ray players ONLY

IR Diodes are from CD Burners ONLY


I can find a CD Burner in my computer cant I?


If one of my computer drives says DVD+RW/CD-RDW what diodes would I get in that?

 

[chido]

A burning red and a burning IR.

BlueRays are from Blue Ray players ONLY

There are also Bluray burners. (really expensive)

 

[xJumper]

What about CD-Players and DVD-Players can I get anything in those?

 

[Switch]

Actually the TV remote uses a diode ;D But it's no laser diode. : And since you can tell it doesn burn anything when you change the channels, it's obvious it's not powerful.
You can get laser diodes out of some other items(disk players/writers and printers,lasertag guns, barcode scanners,etc) but the only ones worth harvesting are DVD burner diodes, blu-ray reader/writer diodes, and maybe CD-RW if you want a somewhat powerful IR diode.Disk players have low powered diodes which are useless, except for BR players because the colour is awesome.

And you can also find diodes in (of course!!) laser pointers! The laser pointer, a household item in any LPF member's house ;D

 

[chido]

Actually the TV remote uses a diode ;D But it's no laser diode. : And since you can tell it doesn burn anything when you change the channels, it's obvious it's not powerful.

I thought all remotes used IR LEDs. :-? Oh well.

EDIT: I know what you mean now. :

 

[FireMyLaser]

And you can also find diodes in (of course!!) laser pointers! The laser pointer, a household item in any LPF member's house ;D

LOL I don't have one! ;D

You can also find laser diodes in laser printers, but I don't know the wavelength or power.

 

[Zom-B]

Broken DPSS lasers (green/blue/yellow/etc) may have a working IR diode, and it's extremely powerful (might be 10 time the rated output power of the colored beam)

 

[chido]

You can also find laser diodes in laser printers, but I don't know the wavelength or power.

They're IR diodes, but I have no idea how powerful they are.

 

[pseudolobster]

Low powered IR lasers can be found in CD players, higher powered IR lasers can be found in CD burners.
Low powered red lasers can be found in DVD players, higher powered red lasers can be found in DVD burners.
Low powered violet lasers can be found in BR/HDDVD players, higher powered violet lasers can be found in BR/HDDVD burners.

Incidentally, a DVD burner will probably also burn CD's, so it will have a higher powered IR laser in it as well... Likewise, a BR player will probably also play DVDs and CDs and will contain lower powered red and IR lasers as well.. etc etc.

TV remotes, wiimote sensors, some rc helicopter remotes, palm pilots, some cell phones, older laptops, use infrared for communications, but since they don't want to blind anyone, and have no need for using it over long distances, they use infrared LEDs, or Light Emitting Diodes, which are the incoherent bastard stepchildren of LASER diodes, or Light Amplified through Simulated Emission of Radiation Diodes.

 

[pseudolobster]

[quote author=FireMyLaser link=1210544271/0#7 date=1210548123]You can also find laser diodes in laser printers, but I don't know the wavelength or power.

They're IR diodes, but I have no idea how powerful they are.
[/quote]

At least some of them are ~630nm HeNe's...

I did lasers as my 8th grade science fair project (more than a decade ago) a friend of mine's dad worked at a print shop of some sort, and lent us a laser he had salvaged to use in the project... It was really fascinating, since "cat toy" laser pointers had yet to hit the market and no one had really seen a laser before... Anyways, I'm not sure it was a desktop laser printer he got it from, and I'm not sure the design hasn't changed since then, but yeah, it was an orangeish red.

 

[Things]

Old barcode scanners used to use HeNe's, but now its just a cheapo laser diode. Cheaper just to buy one from sales.stonetek.org