color combining w/3ccd color seperater optics

[beamann]

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I saw an artical on using a optical arry of prisims from a 3ccd digital camera used in revers to combine RGB beam lines into a white beam line out put, it looked great. I am considering this optical lay out for my RGB build. The optical unit cost only $60.00.
Have any of you tride this? I am looking for the in's and out's and how practical it mite or mite not be to do so.
If this is a workable idea that is practical, The RGB diodes and mounts foot print would be quite small, basicaly a seal optics train and maybe eazy optical alignment.
What do you think??????

[allthatwhichis]

Search Trichro, or trichroic filter. It is an effort in frustration and optical losses. Basically a pain in the ass to align and a lot of optic for the lasers to travel though. It is an experience though.

[DanBarlow]

I had one at SELEM from a 3lcd video projector. There was a tiny join line in the center of the optic which would be out of focus for video but nasty for collimated beams. It requires six axis alignment of two beams (the third is the reference, usually green).

Trying it with random lasers shows the limits of the bandpass dichro coatings, but pretty usable. I don't know if the trade-off is reasonable between having to adjust the lasers more accurately or being able to move two separate dichros to line things up. I would post pictures but my gallery site is down for maintenance.

But if you got one free and want to play go for it! Just don't tell me you killed a 3CCD camera. That would be sad.

[beamann]

I had one at SELEM from a 3lcd video projector. There was a tiny join line in the center of the optic which would be out of focus for video but nasty for collimated beams. It requires six axis alignment of two beams (the third is the reference, usually green).

Trying it with random lasers shows the limits of the bandpass dichro coatings, but pretty usable. I don't know if the trade-off is reasonable between having to adjust the lasers more accurately or being able to move two separate dichros to line things up. I would post pictures but my gallery site is down for maintenance.

But if you got one free and want to play go for it! Just don't tell me you killed a 3CCD camera. That would be sad.

No! never unless 3ccd cam fubar'ed, they sell online the optics from $50.-$75. each.
Also considering the optics from a PS3 optical sled The small and large PBS cubes, some body made white light laser pointer using the PS3 optics of corse the host is a 6 D cell mag light. I belive they are called PBS, not shure.

[buffo]

These trichros are fun to play with, but they're nowhere near as good as a set of dichros. For one, the trichros have much higher losses. Also, as Aaron mentioned above, the alignment process is a bitch. Yes, with enough shims and/or bounce mirrors on kinematic mounts you can get it to work, but it requires much more time (and mounts) than just using a pair of dichros would.

Nevertheless, I still have two of these things on the shelf, and back when I first got serious about buying parts for my laser obsession (almost a decade ago), they were all I had to work with when I wanted to combine the beams to get white.

I've got some ancient pictures in the gallery of my early attempts to make white using one of these trichros. Have a look if you want, but don't laugh too hard - things were mighty crude back then!

Adam