why are blue lasers so expensive?

[oikos]

is there a science/physic limitation behind why the mass production jump from 635nm to 532nm and then to 405nm while the 473nm, 593nm, 589nm remain uncommon and expensive? :tired: thanx

 

[chipdouglas]

i can't give you an answer, but i can point you in the right directon.

most blue lasers are made the same way greenies are DPSS... elektrofreak has a good sticky in the green section about this.


michael

 

[kevinmassey]

660nm lasers were mass produced for dvd burners. Now 405nm lasers are being produced because of bluray burners. I think greens are cheaper just cause they've been around for awhile, so the companies figured out the cheapest way to make them. All those expensive colors you mentioned are all relativly new DPSS lasers that aren't in demand, and require a lot of time to build.

 

[oikos]

660nm lasers were mass produced for dvd burners. Now 405nm lasers are being produced because of bluray burners. I think greens are cheaper just cause they've been around for awhile, so the companies figured out the cheapest way to make them. All those expensive colors you mentioned are all relativly new DPSS lasers that aren't in demand, and require a lot of time to build.

after all, money can achieve almost everything :knight:

 

[kingdave2357]

Yep^^^ geens have been around a long time, and the technology required to make them is commonly available and well know, even to cheap companies. But blue and especially yellow are rather new wavelenghts, especially in portable form, and are very complicated to make. There is explainations of this posted around the forums, but dont remember where.
Blue and yellow is more precise, everything has to line up PERFECTLY or it wont work right. But IMO its totally worth the price for these cool colors
See for yourself

 

[GreenLaser]

my pop is a scientist i will ask him if he can get hold of some diferent diodes do you think he will be able to?
he is a physsisist and when im there he usually shoots high powered IR lasers at diferent insulators so i will find out. so if i can get some good ones will you be able to help me use them without destroying them.
cheers

 

[kingdave2357]

Blue green and yellow are DPSS lasers, not diode lasers. Though if you can come up with a green or blue DIODE and make a hobbyist build with it, then you will recieve some major creds here on the forum.

 

[Deleted member 10578]

is there a science/physic limitation behind why the mass production jump from 635nm to 532nm and then to 405nm while the 473nm, 593nm, 589nm remain uncommon and expensive? :tired: thanx

Because the 635nm (red) and 405nm (near UV) are not DPSS (diode pumped solid state), they are just like an LED with a driver and focusing lens, so they're dirt cheap.
The 532nm is DPSS and needs a large IR diode and crystals to convert the 808nm IR up to 1064nm (still IR), then frequency doubled through another crystal to get it down to 532nm (green) a much more complicated and precision process with more expensive components.
The 473nm is much the same as the 532nm except that the conversion efficiency is much less than that of the 532nm, so it takes a bigger IR diode to get just a small fraction of the output power a 532nm laser has.
The same goes for the yellow as with the 473nm, but with even less efficient conversion.

 

[kevinmassey]

I doubt it. Blue diodes are about 600$, and green diodes are probably atleast a couple grand...

 

[Meatball]

Blues and greens require the same number of non linear crystals, but since Blues are about 1-3% efficient, they need the bigger IR diodes, which then require more cooling, more efficient power supplies, and more corrective optics.

Greens are more efficient, and don't need as much current, temperature, or light control components.

Yellows.... gee I'm surprised they even work at all. I don't know how they do it, other than to get the Nd:YVO4 to lases at two wavelengths at once, you need ONE kind of a particularly coated mirror. Once you get two wavelengths from the Nd:YVO4, then you get to worry about efficiency, cooling, frequency summing, polarization.... golly. What an engineering nightmare. All for about 1% efficiency.

 

[Things]

It's purely to do with the crystals involved. They are much rarer than the crystals used in DPSS greens, so they cost a lot more.

However, blue isn't as expensive as you may think. You can buy a 1W 445nm diode for around $2000US, however, the cost of a 1W 473nm blue lab module will easily run over $10,000US!

 

[Benm]

I suppose 635 nm isnt exactly cheap either. Most reds are 650-660 nm, mass produced diodes for dvd players.

635 diodes are not expensive up to 10 mW or so, but beyond that they get really pricey, especially if you want a single-mode one.

 

[Pontiacg5]

I would like to see a single mode 635mw diode > 20mW, I would be in love...

yellow (at least 593.5nm) and blue 473nm have been around for a while, at least 4 years. However I think green DPSS lasers have stolen the limelight from blue and yellow and companies spend more time making more efficient green lasers instead of blue and yellow. Before much longer (hopefully!) blue and yellow will drop in price and raise in power similar to what 532nm did many years ago.

And hopefully by then they can make a pen sized blue that stays in tem00 without being pulsed! WTH is up with that anyway, they can make 593.5nm tem00 non pulsed just fine and it is less efficient and more complicated than blue!

/rant

 

[Things]

635nm is outdated, 640nm is where it's at!

You can get single mode 150mW CW 640nm diodes nowadays. Not cheap, but not expensive either. My 200mW 640nm Laser-wave module has absolutely awesome beam specs!

 

[Meatball]

It's purely to do with the crystals involved. They are much rarer than the crystals used in DPSS greens, so they cost a lot more.

However, blue isn't as expensive as you may think. You can buy a 1W 445nm diode for around $2000US, however, the cost of a 1W 473nm blue lab module will easily run over $10,000US!

KTP is not much less in price than a nice chunk of LBO. Ebay is evidence of that, justr seeing how widely available the stuff really is.

The thing is, is that now you usually buy your KTP already fused to the Nd:YAG. That's cheating in my opinion, but it does make green assemblies cheaper to produce.

Where do you get those 640nm diodes? Are those in 5.6mm packages?

 

[Cyparagon]

...the 635nm (red) and 405nm... are just like an LED with a driver and focusing lens, so they're dirt cheap.

There's more to it than that. 445nm diodes are not cheap.