Which are the most visible red lasers?

[jimk75]

Which are the most visible red lasers and any info regarding power and cost would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[julianthedragon]

As a general rule of thumb, wavelengths closer to 555nm will be more visible if other variables are held constant. The most widely available wavelength that's considered red and closest to 555 would be 635nm. Then from there, the more powerful it is the more visible it will be but consider the desired power carefully. How visible do you want it and why?

 

[Mattronium]

If you are simply going for Lumens, then you want lower wavelengths and higher power. For red this means 638nm, for simple raw power/lm, the 2.5W Mitsubishi ML562G84 would give the most lumens. But as often is the case, higher power leads to other compromises, in this case beam quality. The G84 essentially has three beams instead of one.

If you are looking for a normal one beam laser diode, then the 1.2W HL63283HD, Oclaro HL63193MG, Mit's ML501P73-02, Sharp GH0637AA2G.
If you broaden the critiria to include laser systems, then you can get higher power and better beam quality etc, but I am assuming you are thinking of a single laser diode.

Naturally, the more information on what the intended use is and other criteria would help.

 

[jimk75]

I do not have a specific use other than to shine it at night and maybe burn something.

 

[julianthedragon]

Assuming you're looking for a preassembled pointer I would go for a 300mw 635nm "Challenger II" or "Guardian" from Sanwu, with OD5+ 600-694nm glasses from laserglow (a must). These pointers use single mode diodes for high beam quality+low divergence, and they're more than powerful enough for visibility at night and some basic burning. A whole watt might be overkill but they offer that in multimode as well. (P.S. don't confuse single/multimode diode for single/multimode operation on Sanwu's website) (P.P.S. I see you already have some heavy duty pointers so I won't belabor the point on safety but definitely wear the glasses and don't be reckless with it, common sense stuff)

 

[jimk75]

Thank you for the informative information. Looks like Sanwu has a great selection. And thanks for giving me some homework. (read about single/multimode diodes).

 

[liveforphysics]

I'm partial to the color of 607nm red with orange sparklely fire, as my favorite and most visible red beam, but it's an exotic set of crystals and optics and temp control to generate that wavelength, fine for a lab but tough to package in a pointer.

612nm is my second most favorite color of red, but equally difficult to package in a small pointer device.

If I had to have a tiny red laser of my choice, I would use a 633nm diode. It's going to cost a few hundred bucks more than 638nm and be capable of lower power limits. Personally I think it's worth it because 633nm is detected by the red and green (only 15-20% sensitivity range) cones, and it matches the red cones peak area with significant detection efficiency improvements.

If your beam quality needs to be good, beware many of the high power 638nm diodes have many modes and large or multiple site emmision face.

 

[Sowee7]

I'm partial to the color of 607nm red with orange sparklely fire, as my favorite and most visible red beam, but it's an exotic set of crystals and optics and temp control to generate that wavelength, fine for a lab but tough to package in a pointer.

612nm is my second most favorite color of red, but equally difficult to package in a small pointer device.

If I had to have a tiny red laser of my choice, I would use a 633nm diode. It's going to cost a few hundred bucks more than 638nm and be capable of lower power limits. Personally I think it's worth it because 633nm is detected by the red and green (only 15-20% sensitivity range) cones, and it matches the red cones peak area with significant detection efficiency improvements.

If your beam quality needs to be good, beware many of the high power 638nm diodes have many modes and large or multiple site emmision face.

im working on small 607nm modules

 

[jimk75]

Wow!. Thanks for the in-depth information. Thank you for the heads-up regarding the 638nm!

 

[rowanthelaserer]

Which are the most visible red lasers and any info regarding power and cost would be appreciated. Thanks.

The most visible laser is the 700mw jetlasers 532nm dpss module, the most visible red laser is the 200mw 650nm diode module.

 

[CurtisOliver]

im working on small 607nm modules

How small? As I’m finding out. A lot of consideration has to go into making Pr:YLF systems compact. Currently working on 607 pr:ylf as well. I presume you are going to for low power and sacrificing some
efficiency?