532 DPSS ?

[polishedball]

I have a 1W 532 that has an issue, wondering how common this might be, what the cause could be etc. There is the main beam retaining more than 99.9% of the overall power, but to one side about a 1/16 of an inch out there is another very low power beam. I noticed it first as a ghost green image on screen when scanning. It can easily be clipped trimmed off, but wondering if this means it is dying or what the cause may be.

Thanks for any thoughts

[absolom7691]

Sounds like an internal reflection maybe. I doubt that it is dying.

[mojo]

Guess no big deal. Most of my DPSS systems (especially the higher power units and 473nm) do have such ghost beams.

[Jem]

I had a bunch of high quality 532nm DPSS single longitudinal mode JDSU lasers with the same problem. The operation wasn't affected by the ghost beam at all.

As others have said, it's no big deal. Not sure of the cause though and would be interested to learn for future reference.

[mixedgas]

This is normal, and not a problem. Its a ghost beam from the output side of the output coupler mirror. Everything does this, even HENEs. laser diodes are the exception, but even they may have minor ghosts. It gets worse ie will be ~.396% of output power, if the manufacturer does not apply a anti-reflection coat and/or wedge to the output side of the OC.

Steve

[Jem]

^^^ Thanks Steve, I now understand