WTB:1w 532nm laser pointer

[borgqueenx]

800-1000mw also acceptable but not less.

Wondering who makes the cheapest lasers out there for this power?

Any used onces? recommendations? thanks!

price im looking for is variable but not more then 600 dollar.

 

[usedwolverine56]

Well, you have a 600mw jetlasers.. why not get a higher powered version?

 

[Alaskan]

I was going to recommend a 800mw Jetlasers myself, but based upon the visual brilliance alone, the difference between a 600mw and a 800mw Jetlasers isn't that much, in my view not worth buying another one unless perhaps you sell your old one and add the money together to buy a higher power version. The Jetlasers can do 800mw, but as all DPSS pointers I've owned are, they are temperature sensitive and will drift around in power from start to finish when using them as they warm up, so even the 800mw version can dip down to 400mw if they get too warm, then you must allow them to cool off some before using again for full power output, at least, this is how my Jetlasers 800mw pointer behaves and probably one of the reasons you want the higher power version, as your 600mw Jetlasers probably dips down to 300mw when it gets too warm. In Alaska where I am at, I can have the opposite problem, mine won't produce full output because it is too cold!

Perhaps consider a NDG7475T based 520nm laser which isn't so temperature sensitive? Only thing is, I don't like the divergence of multimode diodes and won't have one myself without a beam expander on it, then you have a very fat beam though. One thing though, the NDG7475T can put out 1.4 watts in most cases, sometimes more, but even though 520nm which our eyes are a little less sensitive to, that will be far brighter than a 800mw 532nm laser, except for power density, due to having a much wider beam, of course. When pointing into the night sky with a beam expander on a 1.4 watt 520nm laser pointer, my own setup like this is far more satisfying than a 800mw Jetlasers as far as brightness. Only thing is, with the 520nm 1.4w watt laser and beam expander you probably won't find the quality you get with a Jetlasers host, are they going to offer a 1.4 watt 520nm version of their host someday, anyone know?

Here's what I found on their web site for 1 watt of 520nm which is as bright as 800mw of 532nm, but it appears to be fixed focus and they mention something about it being single mode, I guarantee it isn't singe mode at 1 watt, that only applies to their lower power versions, I am sure.

http://jetlasers.org/equality-series/25-520nm-equality-series-green-lasers-diode-laser.html

If this is threaded to allow the use of their 10X beam expander, I think it might be something to consider, the price is right but I don't think it will accept their beam expander, they don't show it in their drop down options menu. I think the reason they don't offer their standard beam expander used on their 532nm DPSS laser is probably due to their 520nm laser pointers larger 3mm beam width, at that size of a beam a 10X beam expander will require a output lens which is at least, if not more than 30mm diameter and the expander used on their 532nm laser pointer has a diameter of only 25mm, if I remember right. You could probably get away with using their 25mm output diameter 10X expander on pointer with a 3mm wide beam output, but some of the output power will be cut off or lost. However, I doubt they will have the needed threads on their 520nm laser pointers to attach their beam expander, since I don't think they designed it for that. That said, Sinner designed a Jetlasers adapter to be used on one of his hosts with multimode laser diodes and he says it works great, maybe it doesn't really cut so much of the power off of a 3mm wide beam output to be so concerned over.

I never intended my response to get this long

 

[gozert]

How serious are you about wanting a laser built for you? Couple days ago I talked to you on skype for over an hour about building you a laser only to have you say you'd rather have a DPSS in the end. Now you suddenly want a diode laser built again. What is it that you want? I suggest you to be sure of what you want the next time you make a thread if you want to prevent people getting real pissed at you for wasting their time.

 

[gozert]

I don't think he said 520nm in his post, kinda left it open I suppose.

Really thought I read 520nm. He's either edited it or I misread it. Either way, my point still stands. I don't mind helping people at all, but I hate having my time wasted. I'm sure many others feel the same way around here so I thought I'd better tell him sooner rather than later.

 

[Alaskan]

I think i'm the only one pushing him in that direction.

 

[gozert]

I think i'm the only one pushing him in that direction.

Yeah, you're probably right. Guess I misread 532nm for 520nm.

 

[Alaskan]

I like the small beam width and low divergence of a DPSS but their temperature sensitivity and now lower output than some 520nm diodes has me more interested in a 520nm multimode laser diode pointer instead, as long as a beam expander is used to bring the divergence down to that of a hood DPSS laser pointer.

 

[borgqueenx]

How serious are you about wanting a laser built for you? Couple days ago I talked to you on skype for over an hour about building you a laser only to have you say you'd rather have a DPSS in the end. Now you suddenly want a diode laser built again. What is it that you want? I suggest you to be sure of what you want the next time you make a thread if you want to prevent people getting real pissed at you for wasting their time.

Sorry for that long talk. I was serious in it but changed priority to 532nm because the jerlasers i have now is actually dieing. It reaches 350-400mw max, turns on and off unexpectatly and the lens cap is broken.

Furthermore, i did not say i want a diode build in this topic? I dont mind if its diode or dpss based. I think my preference definatly goes towards divergence though. I see too many stripe lasers, i want them to have a proper dot. So probaly dpss.

I am interested in the diode too though...how much mrad does a beam expander make things, and how big at aparture is the beam?

 

[Alaskan]

Beam expanders can be different multiples, 2X, 3X....even 160X (I have one, so I know they go that high). If you start out with a laser with 1 mRad of divergence with a 3mm wide beam and expand the beam to 10X its original beam width, now you should theoretically have a .1 mRad divergence laser which is ten times less, but the beam width is 10 times more, or 30mm. When using a beam expander on a uncorrected output of a multimode laser diode, you can focus it to infinity for either the fast, or the slow axis, but not both... Better to use corrective optics to turn the beam into as round a spot you can before expansion so both sides focus together. However, I still have a awesome sharp well defined low divergece beam out of my multimode laser pointer which doesn't have correction to the beam to make it rounder and it still has a awesome low divergence output, just that when pointing at cloud bases as night, you can use a very small amount of fine focus to trim the fast or slow axis to perfect infinity and see the spot change on the cloud, but it is already so close to infinity focus anyway it doesn't really matter. I don't mind a ribbon shaped beam, get 50 feet away and you can't tell anyway.

This photo taken with a iPhone about 2 inches from the end of my pointer with a 2 inch diameter beam expander output on the end, so it looks much wider due to the camera being so close. This is 4 watts of about 465-470nm from a NUBM07E diode. See the slight twix, I will call it, at the very tip of the beam? That's because one axis was not at perfect infinity focus. Slight adjustments will bring one or the other polarity into a more perfect infinity focus, but if you adjust for one, then the other side creates another small little twix at the end of the beam. That little cross at the end of the beam might be too small to see it in the photo, I see it because I know it is there. Anyway, my point of the photo is to show it is really very minor.

 

[ultimatekaiser]

no bare diode can truly compete with good dpss in most cases, even corrected with prisms. (still a prominent problem in industry) but if you want a strong handheld 532 and its not for science, just beam viewing a diode is fine. I wouldn't expect it to last long without exceptional cooling 532-wise as you'd need a very powerful pump. 1W is fairly hard to generate and eliminate enough heat to run in a handheld for a long time. A Jetlasers would probably be a good recommendation, or a hercules from laserglow. but it'll cost you a pretty penny no matter whey you look. though you can sometimes scrounge a near tem00 labby on ebay for fairly inexpensive if you want to go non-handheld, which would likely have a far longer lifetime. What exactly do you want it for?

 

[olympus mons]

Sorry for that long talk. I was serious in it but changed priority to 532nm because the jerlasers i have now is actually dieing. It reaches 350-400mw max, turns on and off unexpectatly and the lens cap is broken.
?

Your laser isn't dying, the tail-cap needs replacing and it will be fine. I just went through this with my 800mW 532 PLE-pro from Jetlasers. Was way under spec and would just cut out. Its the tail cap.
So if that's your only reason for wanting to buy a 1W 532 for 600$, which BTW isn't going to happen unless you find one used, save yourself a grand and buy a new tail cap for $20.

 

[Alaskan]

I have not found a 1 watt 532nm laser anywhere yet, I've found 800mw Jetlasers which will dip down to 400mw as they get hot, until you let it cool off again, but nothing which starts out at 1000mw unless you get something operating over spec, by chance.

 

[ultimatekaiser]

The only place to officially sell a 1W handheld I know of is laserglow. 1W just requires such a huge pump it's not practical on 'Just a heatsink' it needs active cooling. Generally it's still found, in my experience, only in labbies if you want it to run forever and maintain it's power. If you want a fully TEM00 version though it'll have to be one, and it'll be very pricy.

 

[olympus mons]

I have not found a 1 watt 532nm laser anywhere yet, I've found 800mw Jetlasers which will dip down to 400mw as they get hot, until you let it cool off again, but nothing which starts out at 1000mw unless you get something operating over spec, by chance.

Exactly. My PLE will do 800mW but sits around 600-700 on avg. I have only seen one vendor that actually advertises 1W 532's and all they are are probably 800mW's that meter overspec which is basically binning lasers. Then they just sell the under 1W as 800's.
I forget the company though.
IMO the best laser closest to a watt in 532 for your money is Jetlasers. Also amazing customer care. They have dropped their prices this summer a bit I was happily surprised to see after my hiatus this summer.

The only place to officially sell a 1W handheld I know of is laserglow. 1W just requires such a huge pump it's not practical on 'Just a heatsink' it needs active cooling. Generally it's still found, in my experience, only in labbies if you want it to run forever and maintain it's power. If you want a fully TEM00 version though it'll have to be one, and it'll be very pricy.

Also I don't think they ship >5mW to the USA as of the last time I checked.

 

[ultimatekaiser]

Exactly. My PLE will do 800mW but sits around 600-700 on avg. I have only seen one vendor that actually advertises 1W 532's and all they are are probably 800mW's that meter overspec which is basically binning lasers. Then they just sell the under 1W as 800's.
I forget the company though.
IMO the best laser closest to a watt in 532 for your money is Jetlasers. Also amazing customer care. They have dropped their prices this summer a bit I was happily surprised to see after my hiatus this summer.

Pretty much. I can't think of anything other than jetlasers myself either.

Also I don't think they ship >5mW to the USA as of the last time I checked.

No they don't. I just was pointing them out. Though they do ship lab lasers to the US, just nothing portable.

It's pretty hard to come up with 1W of green light without active cooling. I've tried. Getting everything just right temperature wise is pretty hard. 800mW is pushing it pretty hard as it is in regards to being on just a heatsink. by that point you're probably pushing some 3.5W usually, and that doesn't last long. in perspective a yellow 80mW-100 pushes about 2.2W, and those suckers get hot FAST. fractions of a degree matter in regards to the DPSS efficiency but then cooling then presents its own challenges. 800mW seems to be that 'unspoken line' where they can't guarantee any more power, as the beam is usually starting to get icky by that point as it is in many cases (at least in all the ones i've seen) kinda like the whole 4GHz being the 'fastest' practical 'speed limit' for a CPU with full reliability, so they started adding more cores instead. you can push it beyond, but generally its pretty stressful on the laser and it suffers fast.