where to salvage green diodes?

[twelvenine]

I'm kind of a newbie laser enthusiast and i've read about people taking diodes from dvd players and such to build diy laser pointers. i haven't actually done anything like this yet, but i think a project like this would be a good starting point. I'd really like to build a green one and was wondering if anybody knew of a good... thing... that has a green laser diode that i could steal.

 

[supernova]

Nothing has an easily salvaged green diode. Best to try red ones first as they are cheaper.

Get some laser eyewear before you get started as these diodes are pretty powerful.

Goto the experiments and modifications threads and read as much as you can so your "up to par" on what your going to do.

SN

 

[Razako]

They don't currently make green laser diodes. Green lasers use an 808nm NIR diode.

 

[twelvenine]

i thought 532nm was green, like all of those green laser pointers that i see for sale. whats an NIR diode? infrared? can you give me some explanation as to how these lasers work? do they pump the 808nm beam to 532nm somehow? if so, where could i find an 808nm diode and some information on making it produce a green beam.

 

[BlueFusion]

Near IR. Invisible or very close to it.

Green lasers are built with an 808nm diode and a complex assembly of optical crystals and special coatings to turn infrared light into green. Not something you can DIY.

 

[twelvenine]

cool. i was doing some reading on repairfaq.org and it looks like they use the 808nm diode and an IR filter to produce the 532nm beam. probably not a good choice for my first project. i wouldn't want to try this yet, but i've read that it's pretty easy to make a diy helium-neon laser... would it be possible to make a green beam that way? i have no idea how the color of a gas laser is controlled.

 

[cbrian4]

green diodes exist, but its just not cost effective to mass produce them. Im pretty sure there are some out there though.

 

[Switch]

green diodes exist, but its just not cost effective to mass produce them. Im pretty sure there are some out there though.

They would probably be as cheap as the IR and red and blu-ray if they had a reason to mass produce them? :-/

An 808nm diode and an IR filter would probably produce a lot less IR....that is if the filter doesn't get burned.

And I don't know how building your own HeNe laser is easy....maybe if you just buy the tube and hook it up to a power supply unit.Anyway, you can get a lot more green out of a DPSS process

 

[Curiously_Coherent]

Green diodes certainly exist, and as you can read in this thread, http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1203644796 they will soon be mass produced for the TV market. In fact it looks like Red, Green and Blue diodes will soon be as plentiful as LEDs in a few years. Good times...

CC

 

[Midknight]

Near IR. Invisible or very close to it.

Green lasers are built with an 808nm diode and a complex assembly of optical crystals and special coatings to turn infrared light into green. Not something you can DIY.

Well yeah, you can't DIY the crystal. You just find some one that makes them, or sells them. I have a great resource I found on on Ebay. And they are not too expensive. Put it this way... Wicked lasers sells the spyderII for $1700. You can make the same thing for around $200. (Using Wicked Lasers DIY Sonar II case: $50. 1000mW 808nm Diode $50. Driver/logic $50. AixiZ Module $5. CR123 batteries $10. Then you need to make a heatsink. And last but not least, 1W ND:YVO4 532nm crystal capable of converting 1000mW 808nm to 250-300mW 532nm $75-150) *$150 1W ND:YVO4;IR coted.

Also you can get specially ordered, 5W ND:YVO4;IR Coted 532nm crystal capable of converting 5000mW 808nm to ~1250mW 532nm, $$ $$
More so the 5W C MOUNT LASER DIODE Though. $450

 

[Switch]

You forgot the KTP crystal, the YVO[sub]4[/sub] is not enough to produce 532nm light.Besides, I don't think you can fit all that in a $5 aixiz module, and the lens probably won't cut it....And there's a crap load of hard work to try to find that sweet spot on the crystal to get the most out of it.You probably need IR goggles too while setting that up, 1W should cause some serious reflections...

 

[Razako]

[quote author=BlueFusion link=1204433098/0#4 date=1204440583]Near IR. Invisible or very close to it.

Green lasers are built with an 808nm diode and a complex assembly of optical crystals and special coatings to turn infrared light into green. Not something you can DIY.

Well yeah, you can't DIY the crystal. You just find some one that makes them, or sells them. I have a great resource I found on on Ebay. And they are not too expensive. Put it this way... Wicked lasers sells the spyderII for $1700. You can make the same thing for around $200. (Using Wicked Lasers DIY Sonar II case: $50. 1000mW 808nm Diode $50. Driver/logic $50. AixiZ Module $5. CR123 batteries $10. Then you need to make a heatsink. And last but not least, 1W ND:YVO4 532nm crystal capable of converting 1000mW 808nm to 250-300mW 532nm $75-150) *$150 1W ND:YVO4;IR coted.

Also you can get specially ordered, 5W ND:YVO4;IR Coted 532nm crystal capable of converting 5000mW 808nm to ~1250mW 532nm, $$ $$
More so the 5W C MOUNT LASER DIODE Though. $450[/quote]
I think you are forgetting the part where the crystals and optics all need to be aligned PERFECTLY or you will end up having a messed up laser with mode hopping issues and a low output. Btw you also need a KTP crystal.

 

[Midknight]

Alignment is up to you. And I did forget the KTP Crystal. But they are cheap, and you can get them from the same guy. Also I did mention that for extra you can get an IR filter in the crystal.

 

[Switch]

Alignment is up to you. And I did forget the KTP Crystal. But they are cheap, and you can get them from the same guy. Also I did mention that for extra you can get an IR filter in the crystal.

So , do you mind telling us about this guy? : All I could find was a huge $400 crystal....Anyway, how would an IR filter in the crystal work? :-?

 

[BlueFusion]

IR reflective coating on the green end of the KTP.