Which kind of drivers do CNI 589nm use?

[MrMcChicken]

Hello, does anybody know if the 589nm laseres which CNI produces (those which Dragonlasers calls "Spartan") use linear or switch mode laser drivers?
I am asking because I'd like to modify one.
Having a 589nm with visible beam must be awesome but sometimes I want to make it eye safe. For this case I wanted to build a little switch mode driver in thes size of an 16340 battery and use a 16340 battery to drive the laser.
The switch mode driver will output a lower voltage so the laser does not operate at full power.
If they use linear drivers it should be easy to do such a modification. If they use a switch mode driver I would have to look up how they behave.

 

[Cyparagon]

Pretty much any portable laser with an IR pump is going to use a LDO driver (linear). I would not recommend altering the drive current. Because of the nature of DPSS and the unstable environment of a handheld device, the output is not linearly proportional to the input current. In some cases, lowering the current by 10% will lower the output power by 90% while making it flicker. Output attenuation might be a better method.

Of course, if you use proper safety precautions, all lasers are eye-safe.

 

[MrMcChicken]

Thanks Cyparagon. So you mean I should dim it via PWM? That would be another way to go. I don't want to decrease the amount of output by a specific value. Actually I wasn't sure if I should order the 5mW or 50mW model.
Attenuating the output might be a solution but then the laser still comsumes the full current and gets warm too. I guess this wont be as easy as expected.