9mm 445 amazing

After hitting my PS limits with TEC cooling, I decided to give this a go with no TEC, with the TEC I was able to get near 3.4W at 8C.

My goal here was to find stability at ambient temperature for continuous duty as this will end up on a beam rail, and perhaps another scanner ;) hey the rail has holes in each end. lol

For my needs I feel I won;t need to TEC cool this as one I don;t like the weight of the linear supply for the TEC and another damn it heats the baseplate.

I found that setting the current for an output after correction lens of 2.65W, that as the diode warmed over the first 5 minutes power dropped to 2.52W it then stayed stable at this power for over 2 hours. Could I push it harder, you bet it still makes more power when giving more current, but i'll be happy st 2.5W corrected it is a nice beam. This is more power than my dual m-140 after all optics. Hmm maybe time to swap it out, nah i'll just add scanner to this next build.

http://www.home.comcast.net/~polishedball/9mm445.JPG

wow, 2.5W of 445 out of one corrected diode

I don't think I could have even imagined that a couple years ago

Amazing !!! Two oh those bad boys...bounce one....into a good cube they go...no need for a WP....Swami Dog Cross pattern + Out pops a 5W...FIVE WHAT !!! Blazin'Blue Cross....and NO TE !! Mmmmm....Butt...Can I see it a mile away ??? !!! DUH...Good work PB !! BEAM

Great work. Glad to see these are working out so well.:beer:

Nichia NDB7875 9mm 445nm Laser Diode





Here is a quick power test on this diode with a G-2 Lens

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102.../843/y0zaz.jpg
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http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...0/841/crny.jpg
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http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...0/835/vvel.jpg
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http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...0/834/409l.jpg

now I need a 5W red diode (crosses fingers)

At what current is this thing running? Somewhere like 2 amps?

Sounds like these guys are terribly efficient. Cranking out 2,5W stable without even a fan, just an aluminum block.... what?

Nice!!! Need to build a 5 watt with these then :p Would fit nicely in my new green/blue projectors:)

Amazing, corrected & still all that power :beer:

Parts & vendor list, please!

One of these would be perfect for a single-color beam projector I'm itching to put together, and the less parts required, the better!

I think I could make do with a single-diode at 2 watts + ... :D

Diode from DTR
Copper Barrel DTR
405-G2 Lens DTR
AIXIZ type mount Laserman532
Driver P3
Correction Dr Lava Cylinders
Lens Mounts custom Machined (not sure of availability as there a big loss time : price ratio)

you could just as easy use Dave's mount, but i like the centering (left right adjust hole spacing) on Pat's mounts and also the machined hole that you can mount a TEC into.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stuka

Parts & vendor list, please!

One of these would be perfect for a single-color beam projector I'm itching to put together, and the less parts required, the better!

I think I could make do with a single-diode at 2 watts + ... :D

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Question, a couple people that have picked these diodes up from me have asked about correction optics. Does drlava keep them in stock and if not are there any other good alternatives that are?

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Originally Posted by DTR

Question, a couple people that have picked these diodes up from me have asked about correction optics. Does drlava keep them in stock and if not are there any other good alternatives that are?

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Drlava has stock yes, he has been quite responsive lately also. Took care of me on some parts I needed. The prisms work well also, i just prefer the less reflections of the lens. Dave will most likely be stocking Lens sets in both magnifications, not sure if he will be doing a GB or just stock them.

Also for those wondering what current this is currently running at I just measured it to be 2.148A

Also remember all these diodes can very but the power I am seeing isn't a rarity from the limited other tests I have scene done

Quote:

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Originally Posted by polishedball

Drlava has stock yes, he has been quite responsive lately also. Took care of me on some parts I needed. The prisms work well also, i just prefer the less reflections of the lens. Dave will most likely be stocking Lens sets in both magnifications, not sure if he will be doing a GB or just stock them.

Also for those wondering what current this is currently running at I just measured it to be 2.148A

Also remember all these diodes can very but the power I am seeing isn't a rarity from the limited other tests I have scene done

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Are the basic 405-G2 optics suitable for using the setup in a single-diode projector, or are additional optics needed to get the beam to fit on a typical set of scanner mirrors?

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Originally Posted by Stuka

Are the basic 405-G2 optics suitable for using the setup in a single-diode projector, or are additional optics needed to get the beam to fit on a typical set of scanner mirrors?

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I have been able to land most if not all of an uncorrected 445nm on scanner mirrors, esp if you go to the large mirrors. You'll just have more of a stripe than a dot if you don;t add, lens correction or prisms.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by polishedball

I have been able to land most if not all of an uncorrected 445nm on scanner mirrors, esp if you go to the large mirrors. You'll just have more of a stripe than a dot if you don;t add, lens correction or prisms.

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Maybe I'm thinking a bit too simple here, but would the beam be any better if you (deliberately) clipped it through a square or circular aperture? Or would the divergence catch up and still make a stripe in the far field?

I mean, with these diodes, you've got loads of power to squander, so "correcting" it by just taking the useful part of the beam could be a much cheaper and less fiddlesome option than using prisms or lenses.

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i'll be happy st 2.5W corrected it is a nice beam. This is more power than my dual m-140 after all optics.

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I have a couple of questions. Based on all the available results of PO vs current for the m and the 9mm series diodes, the output of the m series is much closer than less than 1/2 of the 9mm output (2+ watts vs. your 2.5 watts). Also, your 3.4 W at a near room temperature 8 degrees C is the highest yet reported. I am afraid that this may be a rare diode?

I am about to order cyl lenses from Edmund for about $108/set. Don't know of any other vendors who stock and no reply from drlava.

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Originally Posted by Stoney3K

Maybe I'm thinking a bit too simple here, but would the beam be any better if you (deliberately) clipped it through a square or circular aperture? Or would the divergence catch up and still make a stripe in the far field?

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The beam that exits the aperture will have the same properties and divergence as the incident beam and you'll still end up with a stripe in the far field.

If you mask close to the diode ie within any real world projector you will just reduce the output power. The stripe and other far field noise can be removed with a spatial filter by masking at the FOCUS within the beam line. The divergence will be unchanged unless you alter the diameter of the beam exiting the optical train.
If power really was no object then you could expand the beam and hence reduce the divergence and then just sample some fraction of it, like what will still fit on a scanner. This is a slick technique that I've used with an LS to extract 10% of the 532 output with pretty good beam parameters, leaving the remaining fat beam to be focused to pump another laser.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by planters

If power really was no object then you could expand the beam and hence reduce the divergence and then just sample some fraction of it, like what will still fit on a scanner. This is a slick technique that I've used with an LS to extract 10% of the 532 output with pretty good beam parameters, leaving the remaining fat beam to be focused to pump another laser.

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That's exactly what I was talking about. The stripe is caused by the fact that it is a wide emitter, and you're basically imaging this wide emitter somewhere else (ideally, at infinity), and the only way you can improve on that without using anamorphics is by adding a matte. The downside of anamorphics is that they decrease your focal depth (er, I mean, increase your beam divergence), but matting doesn't have that problem. Since a matte effectively narrows your aperture, you trade image quality and focal depth for luminance.

I'm using cinematic terms here on purpose, since what we're doing is hardly any different, only a LOT smaller. Now wasting a lot of power to get a useful beam doesn't sound very attractive with expensive, low-power diodes, but if the cost of a single 9mm 445 plus matte is at the same price point as a dual Nichia 445, with cubes, anamorphics and all of the alignment gribbly-bits, I'd say go for the single 9mm. Easier to set up, more compact, and less that could go wrong.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by planters

If you mask close to the diode ie within any real world projector you will just reduce the output power. The stripe and other far field noise can be removed with a spatial filter by masking at the FOCUS within the beam line. The divergence will be unchanged unless you alter the diameter of the beam exiting the optical train.

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I don't see a reason why you couldn't create an artificial focus through a 1:1 telescope. Just a set of lenses with the spatial filter right in the middle.

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That's exactly what I was talking about. The stripe is caused by the fact that it is a wide emitter, and you're basically imaging this wide emitter somewhere else (ideally, at infinity), and the only way you can improve on that without using anamorphics is by adding a matte.

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Going to show my ignorance here. What is a matte? Is it just an aperture mask?

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The downside of anamorphics is that they decrease your focal depth (er, I mean, increase your beam divergence),

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They decrease your divergence. Right?

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but if the cost of a single 9mm 445 plus matte is at the same price point as a dual Nichia 445, with cubes, anamorphics and all of the alignment gribbly-bits, I'd say go for the single 9mm. Easier to set up, more compact, and less that could go wrong.

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I agree wholeheartedly. I even think the 9mm set like this would be cheaper, but I don't think the 9mm diode are substantially more powerful than the m series 445's.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by planters

Going to show my ignorance here. What is a matte? Is it just an aperture mask?

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Matte = (aperture) mask, yes.

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They decrease your divergence. Right?

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Either they're going to make the beam less wide and more divergent, or the other way round. The laws of physics forbid us to make some magical solution that makes a beam more narrow AND less divergent. Unless you mask it and just trhow part of the beam away, and so basically only image a part of the emitter somewhere else.

That's also the reason that anamorphic lenses are not a cinematographer's or projectionist's friend: Since they change the aspect ratio of your image, you're going to lose a lot of focal depth near the short side's edges.

Hello, I am new to PL and have a simple question, which appears to be in line with this thread. How to efficiently and economically couple light from a 9mm 445 nm LD into a 1.6 mm diameter fiber bundle, which consists of 100-micron 0.22 NA fibers. The acceptance angles are +/-12 degrees and the size of the acceptance spot, again, is 1.6 mm diameter? The fiber bundle can be located at the distances from 2 0mm to 200 mm from the LD. Common lenses that are commercially available in M9x0.5 cylinders produce rectangular rather than round spots. 2-3 W 445 nm LD emits rectangular beam. More than 50% of its optical power is lost at coupling. I guess, a cylinder lens can correct and increase the coupling efficiency. Is such lens, or combination of lenses commercially available in M9x0.5 cylinder? Or in other sizes of cylinders?

Hi,
Does anyone have any comparisons between the 5.6mm M140 445nm and the 9mm 445mn for cutting and beam focus point size?

I am running an M140 with a G2 lens at the moment for cutting and engraving and was wondering what advantages there would be going to the 9mm?

thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Anachronicman

Hi,
Does anyone have any comparisons between the 5.6mm M140 445nm and the 9mm 445mn for cutting and beam focus point size?

I am running an M140 with a G2 lens at the moment for cutting and engraving and was wondering what advantages there would be going to the 9mm?

thanks

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... I'm using them both with identical optics for engraving on my CNC-mill - the spot size is nearly the same ... in 40mm focal distance I'm measuring spot diameters or engraved line-widths of around 0.05mm. The main difference is the power ;-)

When testing with XY-galvoscanning with maybe 150mm focal distance, I've got a 'square' spot with roughly 0.4x0.1mm size ... this could be better when expanding the beam before focussing to 20mm or bigger, but then you'll need scanning mirrors for this size too ...

Viktor

Thanks for the info Viktor.
When you say the main difference is in the power, do you mean the 9mm has more cutting / engraving power?
I have not been exceeding 1.8amps on my 5.6mm M140's. What currents are you running your 9mm' and 5.6mm's at?

... 1.8 Amps could be too much for the M140!

Do you have the datasheets with the max. values?

I have two types of the 5.6mm-diodes - one 1W-type with 1Amp max., the other is a 1.5W-type with 1.2Amps max.

My 9mm-diodes are 2.5W-types with 2.25Amps max.

You can exceed the max. current by some ten percents with really good cooling, but then you'll degrade the diode and shorten the lifespan drastically ...

Viktor

M140
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_6...it?usp=sharing
9mm 445nm NDB7875
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_6...it?usp=sharing


Tests.
M140
http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...041#post192041
9mm 445nm NDB7875
http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...092#post192092

POSTING TO SUB..............