Optima lens for reds

[LaNeK779]

Speaking of distractions, how does it really stand now in Greece? What do you think the next year will actually look like? Our general information sources here in the US are just advocates for one group or another and online there is so much chatter.

i am absolutely sure i wrote a rather lengthy post, but somehow i managed to lose it as it seems

In a nutshell, it is all chatter and fear mongering over here too. one thing is for sure, it will not end up nicely for the common people

i guess i'll have more data after today's election



on another note, and after watching some photons fly i have found the following (not anything much different than what was already known)
i used a single diode on a flexmod p3 preset to a certain mAmp level that did not change during the tests
the diode was mounted in a hefty chunk of alu, no issue with temp rising and affecting anything

- Nearfield is 5 cm away from the diode, farfield is 2.5 meters away
- Raw diode, no lens 568mw, so this is the base

- O-Like half threaded lens
478mw
nearfield a stripe of 2mm wide stripe (somewhat fuzzy), by 5mm tall
farfield a stripe of 6mm wide and 2mm tall

- Optima red lens, 4mm FL
486mw
nearfield a stripe of 1mm wide stripe (sharp edged), by 4mm tall (of which the first and last 0.5mm seems not to contain too much power)
farfield a stripe of 13mm wide and 3mm tall
it does introduce a tiny bit of noise around the spot but the galvo mirrors will filter it out

- 405-g-2
555mw
nearfield a stripe of 1.5mm wide stripe (sharp edged), by 4.5mm tall (again the first and last 0.5mm seems not to contain too much power)
farfield a stripe of 11mm wide and 2mm tall

so, it depends of what one needs.
the absolute top performer in terms of power is the 405-g-2
the absolute performer in terms of divergence is the o-like (with its known beam clipping due to approx 8mm FL). it is the cheapest lens, too
the absolute smallest spot nearfield is the optima and it is approx 10usd cheaper than the 405-g-2


i still believe that the 405-g-2 and the prism mirrors by lasertack will prove to be a killer combo

[danielbriggs]

Mega!
Thanks Chris.
As mentioned, I've got a bucket full of O-likes installed at present, but will order some 405-G-2's to fiddle with.

[planters]

Well here are the results of a comparison of the O-like, the Rochester 4mm aspheric and the Optima 4mm aspheric which is supposedly optimized for red.
The near field for the two aspherics is identical at 3.0mm x 1.2mm, but the Optima has two rather prominent "wings" that bring the apparent width from 3mm to 7mm. However, when both near field beams are masked about 2-3cm from the diode block, then a curious thing happens and the far field of only the Optima becomes completely clear of any multi-mode like stripes ( the cleanest beam I have ever seen) while the central stripe remains unaffected for both lenses. The near field for the O-like is 4.5mmx 1.5mm.

The far field for both aspherics is identical,except for the above effect, at 5cm x 0.3cm at 14M. The far field for the O-like is 2.8cm x 0.2cm

The power output for the aspherics was again, identical at 1.180W at 960mA while the O-like was a little lower at 1.110W at the same current.

In my opinion, if not stacking (as opposed to knife edging) the O-like is better suited to the aperture of a mid-sized scanner and circumvents the need to use beam expanding optics in the 4.5mm axis.

Incidentally, or maybe not so incidentally, while I had the thermal test stand set up, I placed the diode with the O-like inside and ran the temperature from 35C to -16C. The PO ( corrected for widow losses) from 35C to 21C hardly changed (2%), but from 21C down to -16C the output increased steadily from 1.110W to 1.220W. Not as impressive as the reds, but not bad.

[LaNeK779]

I haven't noticed any wings with the optima, just a bit more noise that could be attributed to reflections in the lens barel (though this is not the case, it just looks like it)

The beam is indeed really sharp and there are no noticable multimode artifacts present in both the 405-g-2 and the optima.

generally, the only reason for me to use the o-like is cost and if i wasn;t going to use any sort of correction optics.

[andyf97]

Which diode is being used here?

[steve-o]

I think they're talking about the blue 445 m series on the optima for red thread lol

[planters]

Yes. Just to clarify, the diode I tested was an M140 445.
LaNeK779,
I am surprised at your finding no mult-imode far field lateral stripes stripes. But, whatever.

Now I will stop diverting this thread.

[steve-o]

I's just kiddin' Planters. Interesting stuff. Please continue.

[LaNeK779]

Yes. Just to clarify, the diode I tested was an M140 445.
LaNeK779,
I am surprised at your finding no mult-imode far field lateral stripes stripes. But, whatever.

Now I will stop diverting this thread.

I used an a140 diode.
maybe at 2.5 meters i focused and hit some sort of beam waist, or something

[planters]

Actually, I think that might be it. Take a look again at a substantial distance of at least 10M. You might see it.