stupid green laser pointer question

[Shredhead]

first of, i'm new to all this fun stuff....i have a "modded" green laser and i was wondering how i can mod it more myself ...maybe up to 15mW /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dedhorse.gif

 

[star882]

The answer is to overclock it. The problem is that it's already overclocked, so there may be only a little room left before it burns out.
I suggest keeping the laser cool with a heatsink/fan/peltier assembly if you want to overclock it anyways.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

[ QUOTE ]
Analog TV is dead! Long live digital TV.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahem.
That VGA monitor that you're staring at right now? It's analog.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nana.gif

 

[star882]

"Ahem.
That VGA monitor that you're staring at right now? It's analog."
Sorry, it's not a VGA monitor, it's DVI.
And I said TVs, not monitors.
But let's get back on topic.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

[ QUOTE ]
star882 said:
"Ahem.
That VGA monitor that you're staring at right now? It's analog."
Sorry, it's not a VGA monitor, it's DVI.
And I said TVs, not monitors.
But let's get back on topic.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, bad assumption; Mea Culpa. But analog (in computer monitors and TVs) is still gonna be around for a good while. The ATSC standards are pretty good, but the modulation format currently allowed in the U.S. by the FCC has it's problems, particularly with multipath interference in urban areas. Many viewers have to resort to a directional rooftop antenna and an antenna rotor in order to get around the problem.

While DTV is impressive, and DTV editing is a major revolution in production, I don't see everyone throwing out their analog sets in a couple of years.

Ok, back on topic. Overdriving (there are no clock pulses in this case) requires additional thermal management as you've said. Optimizing the optics doesn't. But it's a roll of the dice as to whether it'll bring any more output power, as it depends on the individual LD and how much headroom it has left, as well as whether the optics have already been peaked at the factory.

 

[Shredhead]

any sugestions on how to build a heat sink??

 

[PhotonWrangler]

We kicked this idea around in another thread recently; I think the conclusion was that the case would have to be heavily modified, or the whole LD assembly with lens would have to be extracted from the pointer, mounted into something more substantial, and then the optics realigned. Not for the faint of heart.

I suppose you could mount a peltier junction onto a pipe clamp base and then wrap the band around the pointer, but that would tend to deliver cooling unevenly.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif