Blue 473nm DPSS Questions

[Jem]

Hi all

I need help knowing which 473nm Blue DPSS laser to buy.

I have prices from Lasever ($1400 for 200Mw) and from Lasercentury ($1550 for 200Mw). Both come with analogue modulation, TEC cooling, linear polarisation, Tem00 and power supplies.

It seems that beyond 200Mw the price rockets! So, I guess 200Mw offers the best value for money overall.

Does anyone have experience of either of these units? Are there any other units I should be considering?

Can I trust the manufacturers specifications, or to put it another way is the 200Mw really 200Mw of BLUE or is there a load of IR in there pushing the power up?

Any help and advice would be greatfully received as i'm realy wanting to get the blue ordered so I can get on with my project

Thanks all.

Jem

[JimBo]

The quoted output will be the visable 473nm, they should have IR filters installed but it is worth metioning when ordering that they must install one.
CNI lasers are also well built.

Jim

[Jem]

Hi Jim

I had a look at CNI Lasers but they only quote the transverse mode as being NEAR Tem01. In addition their beam diameter is ~3mm with a divergence of <2.0 mrad. None of it seems very specific, it's all a bit vague and gives them lots of room to manouvre their way out of their responsibilities regarding specifications

Lasever however quote their beams as being Tem00 with a diameter of 2mm and a divergence of 0.5 mrad. Much more specific and to the point.

Cheers

Jem

[dave]

I understand Laser Century are in the habit of supplying under powered lasers from CNI that have been adjusted to give a higher power, at the sacrifice of lifetime, and reliability. This statement came directly from CNI, so i would take it as gospel.

Theres a reason why the CNI's that Laser Century sell are so cheap...

[Zoof]

Hi Jim

I had a look at CNI Lasers but they only quote the transverse mode as being NEAR Tem01. In addition their beam diameter is ~3mm with a divergence of <2.0 mrad. None of it seems very specific, it's all a bit vague and gives them lots of room to manouvre their way out of their responsibilities regarding specifications

Lasever however quote their beams as being Tem00 with a diameter of 2mm and a divergence of 0.5 mrad. Much more specific and to the point.

Cheers

Jem

Two years ago I was shopping for a green and made inquiries with the chinese manufacturers. One of the things I noticed then was that all the specs were alike for all manufacturers. I was asking the chinese fairly direct questions about the specs in comparisson to the other manufacturers and the most interesting reply I got was something like: " it is not a question of how good the specs are but how good the manufacturer meets the spec ". There is a big culture difference here: we tend to think of specs as the actual measured performance. They think of spec as the performance they would like and need to publish to match what the competition is publishing.

From reading on these forums I gather that the lower powered lasers tend to meet the spec OK, while the 200mW and up seem to have funny beams, modehops and such - but find the info yourself.

In short: user experience is far more valuable to you for your decision than spec.

Another cliche:
"You get what you pay for". True if you have a trustworthy source otherwise you might actually get a lot less.

On a note: I'm just hoping that CNI is making a culture change to meet western expectation and pubish more accurate specs. Their build quality is better, prices higher, specs worse....