ok sorry for being so lame about this but....i see laser diodes on the internet all over the place...can i buy a laser diode and just hook up batteries to it? and a housing?? or is it more complicated than that???? thanks in advance /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smoker5.gif
I am confused about a laser diode
- Thread starter Shredhead
- Start date
PhotonWrangler
Flashaholic
[ QUOTE ]
Shredhead said:
ok sorry for being so lame about this but....i see laser diodes on the internet all over the place...can i buy a laser diode and just hook up batteries to it? and a housing?? or is it more complicated than that???? thanks in advance /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smoker5.gif
[/ QUOTE ]
The light that comes out of a raw laser diode is not collimated (focused) - you need to purchase a collimating lens assembly also. In addition, while you could just hook up a battery through a dropping resistor, most laser pointer assemblies include a "soft-start" driver circuit that ramps up the current slowly to avoid popping the LD. Simply connecting a battery to an LD without the soft-start circuit could pop it. Guess how I know this... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif
Shredhead said:
ok sorry for being so lame about this but....i see laser diodes on the internet all over the place...can i buy a laser diode and just hook up batteries to it? and a housing?? or is it more complicated than that???? thanks in advance /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smoker5.gif
[/ QUOTE ]
The light that comes out of a raw laser diode is not collimated (focused) - you need to purchase a collimating lens assembly also. In addition, while you could just hook up a battery through a dropping resistor, most laser pointer assemblies include a "soft-start" driver circuit that ramps up the current slowly to avoid popping the LD. Simply connecting a battery to an LD without the soft-start circuit could pop it. Guess how I know this... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif
