462nm diode question

[DZ]

Hi all, I'm curious, I've been thinking about a small low power solid state setup but would prefer not to use the 445/450nm diodes. So it looks like the 462nm diode would need to be corrected to better match a single mode 638 and 520. Which is better, cylindrical lens set or anamorphic prisms? Also, the 462nm diodes are capable of well over a watt, how do they perform low power?

The last question is driver, are there still no 3 channel drivers on the market???

[logsquared]

I would go for the prisms for adjustability. You will lose some power matching the SM's but there should be plenty to spare. You could put a mask at the aperture to reduce the diameter to 3mm-ish and still have plenty of power to match the SM's.

[swamidog]

in my experience prisms are lossier, but have a cleaner beam.

if you have the table space, you can rig a spatial filter.

[CDBEAM]

Hmmmmm ???? I prefer cylindricals.....for they will squeeze out the last photon outa any diode.....but they are very, very particular when it comes to lens to lens distance !!!! +/- a hundreth of a MM will make some difference in your FF divergence.

But then....you will have some extra 462nm photons going unused to hit a white balance.....so......I guess the anamorphics would be the logical choice !!.....for they are much more forgiving in alignment......but you will pay in greater optical loss. Never a free lunch !!!

[DZ]

Thanks for the info, guys. Sounds like the anamorphic prisms would be best, I'll have plenty of blue to throw away.

[-bart-]

I found out that the lasing threshold, the current where the laser starts to lase, is temperature dependant.
So if you're picky about color reproduction, and care about nice uniform gradients, I suggest a pretty large heatsink or tec cooling. (or have a seperate heatsink for the diodes so that they're not affected by other heat sources)

For example : you set the bias current of the cold 462nm diode at 220mA and the max current at 300mA (since you plan to use it upto 100mW), then that's not a large span, so to say.
Normally the max current is several times the bias current.

You'll find out that a warm system screws up your colour balance at low powers.
To make matters worse : all 3 diodes react differently to temperature.