Blu-Ray laser diode hack

[sysadmn]

Found this via Hacked Gadgets:

I recently purchased a SONY PlayStation 3, replacement Laser reader assembly, with the sole intent of taking it apart, for the violet Laser diode.
...

Here is the beam compared with 5mW red ~650nm and 8mW green 532nm.
(photographed on NON-fluorescing white surface)

Pinouts, graphs, photos... very nice job.

 

[firefly]

It's a very good job i'm impatient to see your work about your blue laser pointer, how much Laser reader assembly? if you bought separetly to yout PS3

 

[dr_lava]

very good writeup! only thing missing is cost

 

[Hemlock Mike]

Nice photo of the beams . Thanks

Mike

 

[toyman]

Hi I sent an email to the guy who wrote the review. The cost on the blue diode is $ 79.95. The link is http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Original-New-SONY-PlayStation3-PS3-KES-400AAA-Laser_W0QQitemZ320091750334QQihZ011QQcategoryZ147177QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem

Woohoo! I'm going to get something blue to play with. :lolsign:.

OK Make that that woohoo I get to play with something violet. :touche:

 

[pseudonomen137]

Hi I sent an email to the guy who wrote the review. The cost on the blue diode is $ 79.95. The link is http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Original-New-SONY-PlayStation3-PS3-KES-400AAA-Laser_W0QQitemZ320091750334QQihZ011QQcategoryZ147177QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem

Woohoo! I'm going to get something blue to play with. :lolsign:.

Just as a sidenote: Blue Ray diodes are not blue (the name is just a marketing invention). They are on the border between violet and ultraviolet.

 

[Hemlock Mike]

I went to this site and ebay reports no purchases in this auction.
1 day - 17 hours left - 29 available --- Better hurry

Mike

 

[ajohnson]

/sigh

Ebay here I come.

We need a emoticon or something that shows money flying away...

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Very cool! So one could almost make a full-color RGB laser show with those.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

O poo. :shakehead:
I just don't have the $$$.

 

[liveforphysics]

I bought a few. I might send a completed blue laser useing the diode down to you Craig for a review.

Thanks for the nice write-up! I never would have thought at this short of a wavelegnth that 10-20mW would be bright enough to be useful, but it sure seems to be!!!

Yipeeee!!!!

I'm still waiting for those Blu-Ray burner prices to drop for a +200mW unit for some serious blue laser power, but this should hold me off for a while

Many Thanks to the man who pioneered this!!!!

 

[Hemlock Mike]

I'm tempted -- they're sellin' like hotcakes !!!

Any specs on that diode. I sure don't want to toast one if I get it.

Mike

 

[jdwannam]

Doh! The site is down, does anyone have a copy of the specs / schematic that was used to make the laser? I would like to make an attempt but I don't want another paperweight to add to my collection of optical drive parts.

 

[toyman]

Doh! The site is down, does anyone have a copy of the specs / schematic that was used to make the laser? I would like to make an attempt but I don't want another paperweight to add to my collection of optical drive parts.

The site is back. He got tired of people asking price. It is now in the post.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

I bought a few. I might send a completed blue laser useing the diode down to you Craig for a review.

KEWL!!! :thanks:
I'll see to it that it gets priority regardless of other products in the queue - no lead time whatsoever!!! :twothumbs:

 

[2xTrinity]

Thanks for the nice write-up! I never would have thought at this short of a wavelegnth that 10-20mW would be bright enough to be useful, but it sure seems to be!!!

Hmm.. I figured it was just the fact that cameras are a lot more sensitive to 400nm than the human eye that made the spot in the photograph look so bright. I know cameras can sure make IR look a lot brighter than it does in real life If you have one though and it really is that bright, that's pretty cool. I would have expected a 5mW red to look brighter than a 20mW violet for example, and a 8mW green not to even close to the other two (ie, more than four times as bright as either one).

It would be interesting to play around with that, particularly shining that around on fluorescent surfaces -- I know my green laser can cause those red and orange copy papers to fluoresce, which is a pretty interesting effect. The possibilities with violet should be a lot wider

However, I suspect that these lasers are inherently FAR more dangerous than green as well -- since the eye isn't as sensitive to them, there may not be as much of a reflex against say a partial reflection, and that near-UV wavelength is likely more damaging to the eye at the same amount of mW as green or red.

 

[Aseras]

That's actually tough to say. Cameras are a lot more sensitive to 400nm than the human eye, so the photograph could be skewing the result. Even still though, it does appear more useful than I would have expected (I'd expect a 5mW red to look brighter than a 20mW violet for example). I know that cameras I have often render red LEDs as being brighter relative to other lights sources than they are in real life. Heck, if you pull the IR filter off a digital camera, I guarantee you it will render IR sources "brighter" than they are in real life

It would be interesting to play around with that, particularly shining that around on fluorescent surfaces -- I know my green lasers can cause those red and orange copy papers to fluoresce, which is a pretty interesting effect. The possibilities with violet should be a lot wider

However, I suspect that these lasers are inherently FAR more dangerous than green as well -- since the eye isn't as sensitive to them, there may not be as much of a reflex against say a partial reflection, and that near-UV wavelength is likely more damaging to the eye at the same amount of mW as green or red.

near UV is absorbed by the cornea.. you worry about retina damge with leaking IR. With a deepblue/violet laser you worry about cooking your cornea and causing cataracts 20-30 years early. about the worst pain you can feel is when a UV laser causes a sunburn on your cornea.

 

[aaron_inc]

i read that site a while ago and have decided to make one the ps3 laser will be here in a few weeks and the diode housing in about a week but could someone help me with the power supply, im aiming to use 3-6AA batts and i need to know what i would need to keep it at 4.4v and 40ma.

 

[aaron_inc]

oops double post

 

[allthatwhichis]

Here is the first I know to have been made... spec or marconi may be able to give some advice...