Question for OPSL owners

[carlos3621]

I have an opsl green, and from what I can tell, the optics for beam collimation, are external and interchangeable. looks like it screws on to the external part of the head / beam exit.

on another note: my opsl is around 4 yrs. old, and used almost every week 3x , and still doing 2.5 watts (spec. is 3 watts),
the only maintenance on it, has been replacing the TEC for the pump diode, around every 8 months.

another note:
when I side by side compare my OPSL green, to a laserwave or cni green module of the same power , facing the projectors, the beams looks equally bright, but from the side or back, looking away from the projector, there is a big difference in visibility,
the opsl green beam, you can see from the front , side, or from the back,
but on the Chinese dpss greens, the beam is not nearly as visible from the side or back, kinda weird but interesting...

[Vidal Wolf]

SBK- I use a collimator from a Spectra Physics Millenia with an adapter for my OPSL heads. they work pretty dang good. If you need one contact Junktronix here on the forum. He will get you fixed up with what you will need.

[carlos3621]

VW,
is your OPSL collimator a screw on type, like mine?

[sbk]

I have an opsl green, and from what I can tell, the optics for beam collimation, are external and interchangeable. looks like it screws on to the external part of the head / beam exit.

on another note: my opsl is around 4 yrs. old, and used almost every week 3x , and still doing 2.5 watts (spec. is 3 watts),
the only maintenance on it, has been replacing the TEC for the pump diode, around every 8 months.

another note:
when I side by side compare my OPSL green, to a laserwave or cni green module of the same power , facing the projectors, the beams looks equally bright, but from the side or back, looking away from the projector, there is a big difference in visibility,
the opsl green beam, you can see from the front , side, or from the back,
but on the Chinese dpss greens, the beam is not nearly as visible from the side or back, kinda weird but interesting...

Yes I saw the screws and it looks like it's interchangeable, but I want to be sure that by removing the collimator it won't let the cavity exposed to the ambiant air..

Indeed they are very good and reliable stuff I wouldn't invest that kind of money into another standard DPSS technology, especially chinese one.
But it's a bit strange to have to change the TEC as often, is it sufficiently cooled on the other side? Or is it simply a predictive maintenance?

And a thing that could explain the difference in visibility from the sides : I'm wondering if the eye is already saturated with light and so don't see difference between lots of green and more than lots of green when you looks at beams coming toward you? As beams are less visible from sides, it lets more room to the eye to distinguishes a beam with a better power density like the OPSL...

SBK- I use a collimator from a Spectra Physics Millenia with an adapter for my OPSL heads. they work pretty dang good. If you need one contact Junktronix here on the forum. He will get you fixed up with what you will need.

Interesting to hear! So you removed the original collimator from your OPSL and put the Spectra Physics one instead, or you put this one after the OPSL collimator?
I have already a lower divergence collimator (longer) and I must say it works damn good too.

[Vidal Wolf]

Sbk, I do not have a collimator on either head, just the output window. The collimators I have are ?? Aftermarket?? mounted with an adapter plate I got from kevin.

[sbk]

Ok so you mean there is an extra output window behind the collimator, that is sealing the cavity?

And you received you Taipans like in the left picture? And you can see my stock collimator on the right picture :

[carlos3621]

Yes I saw the screws and it looks like it's interchangeable, but I want to be sure that by removing the collimator it won't let the cavity exposed to the ambiant air..

Indeed they are very good and reliable stuff I wouldn't invest that kind of money into another standard DPSS technology, especially chinese one.
But it's a bit strange to have to change the TEC as often, is it sufficiently cooled on the other side? Or is it simply a predictive maintenance?

And a thing that could explain the difference in visibility from the sides : I'm wondering if the eye is already saturated with light and so don't see difference between lots of green and more than lots of green when you looks at beams coming toward you? As beams are less visible from sides, it lets more room to the eye to distinguishes a beam with a better power density like the OPSL...




Interesting to hear! So you removed the original collimator from your OPSL and put the Spectra Physics one instead, or you put this one after the OPSL collimator?
I have already a lower divergence collimator (longer) and I must say it works damn good too.

regarding the visibility, I think it has a lot to do with power density.. but not sure.
when I use them outdoors, the OPSL just looks way more visible than the same power dpss laser beam. I cant explain it.
regarding the TEC's, from my experience, peltiers are not as reliable / permanently, as one would expect, I mean, they just go out after heavy use, and the reason I know it went out, is that my OPSL driver, will not fire up, if it detects a bad cooling TEC (kvant driver), and I have been using high quality 80 watt , U.S. made TEC's, but they just seem to fail after 8 months. (with Kvant cooling system/ projector).

just my .02

[logsquared]

regarding the visibility, I think it has a lot to do with power density.. but not sure.
when I use them outdoors, the OPSL just looks way more visible than the same power dpss laser beam. I cant explain it.

My guess is the OPSL has better modulation characteristics making it more visible.

Have you by chance measured the divergence of your OPSL?