Did anyone use the 538nm 5watt Diode?

[logsquared]

If you like sharp fine beams then you should look at the opnext HL63133DG single mode diode.

[DTR]

Yes the whole soft start thing started after a member over at LPF popped one powering it with some chinese driver that he said worked great with his high power IR diodes. I will still suggest a lasorb with a good driver which there are not a lot of choices for them right now but other than that it is fine. They were just trying to make sure a quality driver is used that does not have overshoot to reduce inexperienced people damaging expensive diodes.

[The_Doctor]

If you like sharp fine beams then you should look at the opnext HL63133DG single mode diode.

Already have been. Prophotonix had data for that one. But they don't sell Mitsubishi's. DTR, you're here. Any chance of putting data sheets on your site? What they will do to help get you noticed, they will likely more than pay for bandwidth. Assuming you're allowed to host them for free with no penalties due to the makers, that is. If nothing else, maintaining live links would help a lot.

[DTR]

Already have been. Prophotonix had data for that one. But they don't sell Mitsubishi's. DTR, you're here. Any chance of putting data sheets on your site? What they will do to help get you noticed, they will likely more than pay for bandwidth. Assuming you're allowed to host them for free with no penalties due to the makers, that is. If nothing else, maintaining live links would help a lot.

What diode did you need the datasheet for? The C-mounts they will not provide but I have all the mitsubishi datasheets.

If you like sharp fine beams then you should look at the opnext HL63133DG single mode diode.

Is the 2/3x price tag on the HL63133DG worth the small bump in power over the HL63603TG?

I can carry them but just never thought anyone would want to pay the extra amount for the small bump.

[The_Doctor]

Thanks DTR, points taken on all counts (but still can't see datasheet for the 300mW diode). Bear in mind that there may be something else special about that newer diode, like more resiliance. Hard to tell. I liked Opnext diodes till I discovered that the 80mW reds were prone to retroreflection death. Up to that point I was using Opnext 35, then 50, with no trouble, but once I dicovered that death (something Photonic Products questioned, and the makers apparently denied at the time!), I decided I didn't want to spend high on diodes if they were going to be so fragile at high power. I'm done with the lottery, I lost 500 quid proving what people now recognise as a wide-spread risk. From now on I'm more interested in high power diodes as pumps for crystals without SHG and all its instabilities. That might be a LOT of fun to be had, but still apparently fairly exclusive to Kvant and others with big research budgets.

[logsquared]

Is the 2/3x price tag on the HL63133DG worth the small bump in power over the HL63603TG?

I can carry them but just never thought anyone would want to pay the extra amount for the small bump.

Good point. I have a HL63603TG that i have run at 200mw for some time with no problems. Even if it pops I can buy almost 2 more for the price of a single 170mw HL63133DG.

[DTR]

\ Bear in mind that there may be something else special about that newer diode.

I was under the impression they are both newer designs.

Good point. I have a HL63603TG that i have run at 200mw for some time with no problems. Even if it pops I can buy almost 2 more for the price of a single 170mw HL63133DG.

200mW with the HL63133DG seems pretty easy to achieve. What is the top end of the HL63603TG?

[planters]

The single mode are nice, but the power is a lot less. I would put it safely @ 1/4 and so if you combine 4 of the single modes and add the cost of the lenses, prisms and PBS I think this is substantially more expensive, but it is a clear option.

From now on I'm more interested in high power diodes as pumps for crystals without SHG and all its instabilities

What are you talking about here? Do you mean for machining @ 1064nm? For what its worth I managed to kill an 808nm diode with retro-reflection while pumping a crystal.

[The_Doctor]

Well, the nice beam out of a crystal means that multimode might get more output than trying for single mode direct emission at similar power and quality. I haven't tried this (I sold the one Casix composite crystal I had, having decided to buy all those Rohm diodes that I now reject. I made back most of my losses selling Rohm diodes too, so maybe I should forgive them..).

Regarding death by reflection off a crystal, sure, but underpowering a big pump diode, and getting a slight angle to avoid direct return, it might be worth a go. And a lot easier than all that knife-edge+PBS+prisms shenanigans. I really think that one BIG diode pump, underpowered, and a crystal for generation without SHG, is the way to go, if I can get there. What little I know of OPSL suggests that it's for the big researchers, fitting all the bits on one die to avoid long-term future costs, and alignment and temperature stability issues, but we may have a half-way point, of pumping a crystal. Crystals can be coated fairly cheaply. And we seem to have an increasign array of good pump diode possibilities avaliable. Absolom mentioned in another thread (started by me last night) that Kvant make something pumped by 445nm, and in that same thread I linked to a Cobolt 660nm DPSS (no doubt horribly expensive) that is likely pumped crystal with no SHG also. But what is being pumped by what, I have no idea yet..

[planters]

I really think that one BIG diode pump, underpowered, and a crystal for generation without SHG, is the way to go, if I can get there.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand what a crystal for generation without SHG means. Are you saying there are laser crystals that lase directly in the visible? I believe that OPSLs still generate in the IR and contain SHG crystals for the visible. There is a 445nm pumped Pr3+ fiber laser that has been a lab curiosity for some time. It is hard for me to imagine that Kavant (of 1/2 angle divergence fame) has an operational model yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oLdCNe8jyQ