Where to find TEC modules for 473nm crystals?

[viroy]

I am planning on building my own 473nm module.  
I can get a hold of the crystals and an 808nm diode... but I dont know where to get a TEC module.
I was thinking of taking apart some green ones, but if I could find blanks, that would be better.
I have never built one of these before... so if anyone with experience could lend a hand, I would be very grateful.

Here is the crystal set:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130270133913

I wrote him and I believe he said a 2w 808nm diode would produce >500mw 473nm.
Would this be all I need?... other than a module with collimator, an 808nm diode and a driver.
Where can I get a module?

Thanks in advance!

 

[LRMNmeyer]

I wrote him and I believe he said a 2w 808nm diode would produce >500mw 473nm.
Thanks in advance!

Those are some efficient crystals! A 473nm crystal set with 25% effieciency? I don't think that's correct, most DPSS blues need a 2.5W diode to produce ~30mW.

 

[hydrogenman15]

[quote author=viroy link=1227323137/0#0 date=1227323137]I wrote him and I believe he said a 2w 808nm diode would produce >500mw 473nm.
Thanks in advance!

Those are some efficient crystals! A 473nm crystal set with 25% effieciency? I don't think that's correct, most DPSS blues need a 2.5W diode to produce ~30mW.[/quote]

Thats crazy. Come on, your diying a >500mW blue. I really don't think its going to make THAT much. I believe blues could reach 5%
efficiency so 2500 divided by 100 then times 5 = 125mW's... Maybe they have gotten better...Or they haven't...LOL

--hydro15

 

[viroy]

ah I found his email:

Hi,
2W 808nm diode is recommended. 2W can make 473nm 130-150mw.
If you use 1W, 50mw 473nm will get.
Regards

 

[diachi]

Blue DPSS is even harder to achieve than green! it generally only reaches 1-2.5% efficiency. All the bigger ( 200mW + up ) 473nm DPSS systems that you see often have pump diodes ranging from 10-20W, and sometimes even more. 473nm DPSS crystals also "dissolve" due to the water in the air, so they need to be kept in a sealed package as much as possible.

-Adam

 

[ElektroFreak]

ah I found his email:

Hi,
2W 808nm diode is recommended. 2W can make 473nm 130-150mw.
If you use 1W, 50mw 473nm will get.
Regards

Wow. I thought snoctony would know his business pretty well. I won't call him a liar, but he's apparently misinformed. Blue DPSS gets 5-10% efficiency in a lab environment under the absolute best conditions. In the real world 1-5% max just like Diachi said. I'm a little disappointed.

 

[ElektroFreak]

Or maybe there's some new type of ultra-efficient 473nm crystals out now. If there were, I doubt they would be that inexpensive.

 

[brtaman]

Nope the crystals in that auction are nothing "special" or new. Standard good ole LBO.

BiBO on the other hand is a more efficient crystal. Even then it achieves around 13 percent efficiency in a controlled lab experiment. http://www.photonics.com/content/spectra/2003/May/research/77431.aspx

"BiBO is a newly developed nonlinear optical crystal. It possesses large effective nonlinear coefficients (3.5 - 4 times higher than that of LBO, 1.5 - 2 times higher than that of BBO ), high damage threshold and inertness with respect to moisture. It has been identified to be an efficient NLO crystal, especially for producing blue light through second harmonic generation of CW Nd lasers or ultrafast TiS lasers."

LBO is bottom of the 473 SHG food chain.

Just a word of advice though, setting up crystals to lase at 473 is a mammoth undertaking, you should do alot of reading (books pertaining to the topic of DPSS), before starting a venture. That being said if you are adamant about finishing up this project, I wish you the best of luck in your endevour.

 

[Xplorer877]

I thought about trying this too. But I gotta ask why is the crystal set so sensitive? Why does it have to be lined up so perfectly? I'm a noob when it comes to exactly how DPSS works. Can anyone shed light on this?

-Jim

 

[ElektroFreak]

I thought about trying this too. But I gotta ask why is the crystal set so sensitive? Why does it have to be lined up so perfectly? I'm a noob when it comes to exactly how DPSS works. Can anyone shed light on this?

-Jim

Check this out:

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/laserssl.htm#ssllme

 

[GooeyGus]

Nope the crystals in that auction are nothing "special" or new. Standard good ole LBO.

BiBO on the other hand is a more efficient crystal. Even then it achieves around 13 percent efficiency in a controlled lab experiment. http://www.photonics.com/content/spectra/2003/May/research/77431.aspx

"BiBO is a newly developed nonlinear optical crystal. It possesses large effective nonlinear coefficients (3.5 - 4 times higher than that of LBO, 1.5 - 2 times higher than that of BBO ), high damage threshold and inertness with respect to moisture. It has been identified to be an efficient NLO crystal, especially for producing blue light through second harmonic generation of CW Nd lasers or ultrafast TiS lasers."

LBO is bottom of the 473 SHG food chain.

Just a word of advice though, setting up crystals to lase at 473 is a mammoth undertaking, you should do alot of reading (books pertaining to the topic of DPSS), before starting a venture.  That being said if you are adamant about finishing up this project, I wish you the best of luck in your endevour.

LBO is actually one of the better NLO's for 473. BiBO, while efficient, is extremely temperature sensitive. Even a .1 degree temperature change can significantly effect the walkoff angle with BiBO. LBO is the crystal of choice when it comes to higher power 473nm lasers. The reason being that it has a fairly broad temperature range and the crystal itself is strong and can take a lot of pump power and produce a lot of 473. I've been told that the max for BiBO is about 250mW of 473nm light.

I posted this in your other 'looking for tec' thread, but I figured I should put it here as well (this is just a copy of my other post):

TEC's are easy to find, what is going to be more of an issue is CONTROLLING that TEC. I would search for a PID temp controller for your tec. It controls temp via thermocouple and a solid state relay to your power supply.

 

[brtaman]

I was referring to elektrofreaks post and only catagorizing the crystals by their efficiency in that post, not difficulty of allignment, walk-off angle, damage threshold, FWHM etc.

There seems to be no mention of a "max" power that bibo is capable of handling in this article http://www.photonics.com/content/spectra/2003/May/research/77431.aspx (2.8w though in a lab) , in fact LBO's damage threshold is not that much better then BBO (don't have specs on hand) (BBO 1.5 [GW/cm^2] vs. LBO 2.5 [GM/cm^2]), now I am not denying that BBO or BiBO are much harder to align than LBO (the angular sensitivity and walk off angle are roughly 10 times higher in the final sense for BBO as opposed to LBO), thus making BBO a much tougher cookie to use.

The main problem of BBO is the low angular tolerance 0.8 mr cm and its mildly hygroscopic manner. It has a good nonlinear coefficient, temperature tolerance and a high damage threshold.

LBO on the other hand, has an even higher damage threshold, in fact it is used also for 532nm frequency doubling at high powers due this fact replacing KTP. It also has a very stable chemical structure and does not suffer from hygroscopicity.

 

[GooeyGus]

I was referring to elektrofreaks post and only catagorizing the crystals by their efficiency in that post, not difficulty of allignment, walk-off angle, damage threshold, FWHM etc.

There seems to be no mention of a  "max" power that bibo is capable of handling in this article http://www.photonics.com/content/spectra/2003/May/research/77431.aspx (2.8w though in a lab) , in fact LBO's damage threshold is not that much better then BBO (don't have specs on hand) (BBO 1.5 [GW/cm^2] vs. LBO 2.5 [GM/cm^2]), now I am not denying that BBO or BiBO are much harder to align than LBO (the angular sensitivity and walk off angle are roughly 10 times higher in the final sense for BBO as opposed to LBO), thus making BBO a much tougher cookie to use.

The main problem of BBO is the low angular tolerance 0.8 mr cm and its mildly hygroscopic manner. It has a good nonlinear coefficient, temperature tolerance and a high damage threshold.

LBO on the other hand, has an even higher damage threshold, in fact it is used also for 532nm frequency doubling at high powers due this fact replacing KTP. It also has a very stable chemical structure and does not suffer from hygroscopicity.

yup I agree with you 100% as far as the BiBO and BBO being much more efficient. Just, like you said, in real-world (especially hobbyist) applications they are just a pain to work with. Especially with the hygroscopic nature of BBO. I think the '250mW max' (in a 'hobbyist-type' setting) I was thinking of was for BBO due to the damage threshold and temperature sensitivity of the crystal. I always get the two mixed up... it's that damn extra 'i'  ;D

 

[brtaman]

[quote author=brtaman link=1227323137/0#11 date=1227607348]I was referring to elektrofreaks post and only catagorizing the crystals by their efficiency in that post, not difficulty of allignment, walk-off angle, damage threshold, FWHM etc.

There seems to be no mention of a "max" power that bibo is capable of handling in this article http://www.photonics.com/content/spectra/2003/May/research/77431.aspx (2.8w though in a lab) , in fact LBO's damage threshold is not that much better then BBO (don't have specs on hand) (BBO 1.5 [GW/cm^2] vs. LBO 2.5 [GM/cm^2]), now I am not denying that BBO or BiBO are much harder to align than LBO (the angular sensitivity and walk off angle are roughly 10 times higher in the final sense for BBO as opposed to LBO), thus making BBO a much tougher cookie to use.

The main problem of BBO is the low angular tolerance 0.8 mr cm and its mildly hygroscopic manner. It has a good nonlinear coefficient, temperature tolerance and a high damage threshold.

LBO on the other hand, has an even higher damage threshold, in fact it is used also for 532nm frequency doubling at high powers due this fact replacing KTP. It also has a very stable chemical structure and does not suffer from hygroscopicity.

yup I agree with you 100% as far as the BiBO and BBO being much more efficient. Just, like you said, in real-world (especially hobbyist) applications they are just a pain to work with. Especially with the hygroscopic nature of BBO. I think the '250mW max' (in a 'hobbyist-type' setting) I was thinking of was for BBO due to the damage threshold and temperature
sensitivity of the crystal. I always get the two mixed up... it's that damn extra 'i' ;D[/quote]


Yeah I know what you mean with mixing stuff up when it comes to these crystals, its funny the more you read into the topic and phase matching the more put off you get from actually buying a crytal set to put a laser together.

Just curious though on the topic of BBO, where did you read about its maximum. From what I have read the damage threshold isn't all too bad (nothing compared something like LiNBO3). Was the maximum meant in a hobbyist application due to the insane walkoff, or something else? These crystals are amazing works of physics and chemistry, you learn something new bout them every day, thats why I am interested, it has me intrigued due to the fact that besides hygroscopy, the damage threshold is 1.5bbo vs 2.5 lbo, is there an aspect I am overlooking?

Thanks
brtaman

 

[GooeyGus]

[quote author=GooeyGus link=1227323137/0#12 date=1227654303][quote author=brtaman link=1227323137/0#11 date=1227607348]I was referring to elektrofreaks post and only catagorizing the crystals by their efficiency in that post, not difficulty of allignment, walk-off angle, damage threshold, FWHM etc.

There seems to be no mention of a  "max" power that bibo is capable of handling in this article http://www.photonics.com/content/spectra/2003/May/research/77431.aspx (2.8w though in a lab) , in fact LBO's damage threshold is not that much better then BBO (don't have specs on hand) (BBO 1.5 [GW/cm^2] vs. LBO 2.5 [GM/cm^2]), now I am not denying that BBO or BiBO are much harder to align than LBO (the angular sensitivity and walk off angle are roughly 10 times higher in the final sense for BBO as opposed to LBO), thus making BBO a much tougher cookie to use.

The main problem of BBO is the low angular tolerance 0.8 mr cm and its mildly hygroscopic manner. It has a good nonlinear coefficient, temperature tolerance and a high damage threshold.

LBO on the other hand, has an even higher damage threshold, in fact it is used also for 532nm frequency doubling at high powers due this fact replacing KTP. It also has a very stable chemical structure and does not suffer from hygroscopicity.

yup I agree with you 100% as far as the BiBO and BBO being much more efficient. Just, like you said, in real-world (especially hobbyist) applications they are just a pain to work with. Especially with the hygroscopic nature of BBO. I think the '250mW max' (in a 'hobbyist-type' setting) I was thinking of was for BBO due to the damage threshold and temperature
sensitivity of the crystal. I always get the two mixed up... it's that damn extra 'i'  ;D[/quote]


Yeah I know what you mean with mixing stuff up when it comes to these crystals, its funny the more you read into the topic and phase matching the more put off you get from actually buying a crytal set to put a laser together.  

Just curious though on the topic of BBO, where did you read about its maximum. From what I have read the damage threshold isn't all too bad (nothing compared something like LiNBO3). Was the maximum meant in a hobbyist application due to the insane walkoff, or something else? These crystals are amazing works of physics and chemistry, you learn something new bout them every day, thats why I am interested, it has me intrigued due to the fact that besides hygroscopy, the damage threshold is 1.5bbo vs 2.5 lbo, is there an aspect I am overlooking?

Thanks
brtaman[/quote]

To tell you the truth, I'm not 100% sure. I've been talking a lot with MechEng3 (from PL) on the phone and he mentioned that 250mW was about the max I could get if I used BBO to make my 473. I've also read that number somewhere else. I think the number refers to a power one would expect without extremely expensive aligning equipment and temperature management, as well as phase matching and all that good stuff. I obviously dont think I'll even reach 250mW (I'm just trying to see a tiny bit of blue, honestly lol) but he has made a few and said thats about the max one would hit without some expencive machinery. He said BiBO is bad for the hobbyist due to how sensitive it is for alignment purposes and things along those lines.

 

[viroy]

I think I was looking at those BiBo crystals earlier:
http://www.redoptronics.com/BIBO-crystal.html

GooeyGus:
Can you refer any sources please? I have been unable to find any at all