Laser pointer power levels and components

[luvlasers]

What is the difference between the components used in say a standard 15mW green laser pointer and a 125mW laser pointer?

I take it the 125mW would have a higher power diode.
What about crystals and lens, would thse be the same?

Very curious about this so i hope the experts here can help me out.

 

[luvlasers]

BUMP

Help please.:help:

 

[chuck]

The KTP crystal is likely to be larger in the higher powered one...if not, it risks thermal damage.

The lens may or may not be the same...

Same basic components...but beefed up for the higher power level. At those levels, you have to start worrying about heat.

-- Chuck Knight

 

[rubberband]

actually it has to do with allignment of the crystals the better the allignment teh better the power output and also crystal clarity, quality adn size play a part but it mostly has to do with allignment

 

[chuck]

I remember a side by side comparison article done on this forum, or LPF, that showed the difference in the crystals...and commented how heat would be an issue.

Guess I extrapolated from that.

So, from what you're telling me is that if I had the crystals available, I could misalign the crystals and get a 5mw LASER, or properly align them and get a 100mw LASER, without changing the size of the IR pump diode? Are the high powered ones just cherry picked from the same basket containing all the others?

-- Chuck Knight

 

[VaThInK]

You're kind of on the right spot there Chuck. For example look at the portable lasers sold by LaserGlow. Their Hercules 250 to 600 model use the same 2.5W pump diode and they all would consume the same amount of current (maybe roughly about 3.5A), yet their average optical power output are ranging from 250mW to 600mw. Hence, the crystal quality takes part in this example, which makes the 250mW model being the least efficient and the 600mW model would be the most efficient ones. However, if you wish to use higher pump diodes like say 10W on those crystals that used in Hercules, of course you will need bigger crystals otherwise you would burnt it.