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Thread: Cheap! 100mW/700mW 613nm (Orange) Laser Module

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
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    41

    Laser Warning Cheap! 100mW/700mW 613nm (Orange) Laser Module

    Hello Guys,

    i have already posted inside the LaserPointer Forum. Many of you know it already, however i will try my luck here too.

    I designed and build a prototype of a cheap 100mW/700mW 613nm Laser module. It is not a DPSS as you might expect.
    Its using the diode thermal wavelength shift to drive a normal red laser diode down to 613nm. I already archived a wavelength of 616nm with a 700mW 638nm sharp Multimode diode.

    The laser module can cool the diode really deep to shift the wavelength. I am currently getting -80°C but i am expecting -100°C by using a better tec.

    Data:
    The module is completely hermetically sealed and uses vacuum insulation. So no special equipment is needed to operate it. Just a normal Tec driver and a Laserdiode driver (a Live Lasersystems ColorDrive for example).

    It uses around 60-70W for cooling and laserdiode.
    Its quite small with a footprint of only 60x70mm and a hight of 40mm.

    There are several options for laser diodes that could be used inside the cryo module:
    633nm 100mW SM Ushio diode (around 180USD) -> this would give us the best (lowest) wavelength and beam, however its quite expensive (this would give us 613nm @100mW)
    638nm 185mW SM diode (30USD?) -> this is quite cheap, has better power but worse wavelength, would be best for a cheap lumia
    638nm 700mW MM diode (30USD?) -> cheap and the most power, worst beam and wavelength but the power may make some people consider it (around 620nm at 700mW)


    I also have a comparison screenshot of the 616nm i already archived with a 700mW MM diode that was running at around 200mW. The other diode is a 660nm SM red.
    Please dont look to closely at this janky setup, its my prototype. The module will not have the vacuum gauge attached to it in its final form. I also changed the mount for the output window and case lid.


    I can get a price brake on the TEC used if i get enough people interested. I dont have a exact price for the complete module as i am currently investigating milling options for the case. I can say that in will be in the range of 500-1500USD depending on the configuration (diode used) and addons (drivers). A kit would be much cheaper but requires you to have a good vacuum pump and soldering skills. However the TEC would be 160USD (excluding shipping and customs) for one pice and 100USD for one if we can get 10.
    SO if anyone would be interested in buying a kit or a complete unit, drop me a PM.

    Best Regards
    Stephan
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 615,94.png  

    1.jpg  


  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
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    Cleveland Ohio
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    Good to see you over here. How much for the best setup total? Ie best diode,driver tec. Etc…. Also I’d be interested to see if you can significantly shift green and blue diodes. Be interesting to shift out a 520 to 530/540. Be interesting to shift a 465 to 470/475 think that would be heating though. Still basically same setup.

    660/638. 613. 575. 488. 525/543. 473. 445. Now that would be some Lumia. Or a mess but let’s you select sets of pallets colors. Like 660 613 575 543 445. Or. 638. 575. 525. 473. Or. 660. 613. 445. For a dark look etc….

    be good for open can diodes too as you can dry Argon backfill

    isthere room to add a second diode and pbs? Thinking of planters setup.

    anyway price is king. Yes interested.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
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    Hey Kecked,

    unfortunately there is no space for a second diode. Even if there would be space, the tec would get overwhelmed with two diodes.
    The two diodes wouldn't reach these low temperatures that are needed for orange.

    However its easy to buy some dichroics (or PBS) and add a second module or diode to make a Lumia.
    I am thinking about buying a cheap Chinese RGB module and changing the red diode to R660nm. This would give 660nm, 613nm, 520, 445nm. Thats already nice and still easy to add.
    If i am feeling special i would add a 488nm and 405nm diode, this would give almost the whole spectrum: DeepRed, Orange, Green, Cyan, deepBlue and violett.

    But i see your point, a lumia with just a DeepBlue (445), a deepRed(660) and a Orange would give a nice dark colorful look.

    Argon Backfill is also not advisable, this would significantly reduce the cooling ability of the tec as argon would cary heat to the diode mount.
    Thats why i am using a vacuum to keep the heat "away" or the cold "in" depending how you look at it.

    For you green/cyan diodes: As i explained in the Laserpointer Forum, it would be much more advisable to cool diodes than heat them.
    Cooling archives way more wavelength shift than heating.

    Price is highly dependent on quantity. Thats why i am asking if anybody is even interested.
    I currently have no better estimate as 500-1500€ I will update this as i get informations on my material and milling prices. That being said: my lowest estimate is quite optimistic and my highest quite pessimistic. I assume around 800€ but i can not (at this time) offer a concrete price.
    However even my highest estimate is still worlds away from commercial Orange modules with this much power thus providing a very good value.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
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    Hello Guys!

    I now have a better estimate.

    If we talk low cost, i can offer:
    730€ with the 638nm 185mW SM diode, this module should reach 618nm. This would only be the module, without any driver.
    If we talk the best module, ready to use, fully fledged we are at 1020€ including driver and the better 633nm 100mW laser diode. It should reach 613nm.
    The module will use around 70W at 24V (around 3A).
    Please keeping mind, every diode is different, so i cannot guarantee the actual wavelength.

    If you want to get an even lower wavelength, we could stack a tec underneath the complete module. I didnt calculate a price and the power usage would be enormous (like >300W) and you could get to around 610nm.

    Drop me a PM or leave a comment if you are interested. If enough people are interested, we could get the price down.

  5. #5
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    Jan 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by Farbe View Post
    The laser module can cool the diode really deep to shift the wavelength. I am currently getting -80°C but i am expecting -100°C by using a better tec.
    Wow! You're getting the diode down to -80°C using just a TEC? That's impressive! How long does it take to cool down from ambient?

    Quote Originally Posted by kecked View Post
    Be interesting to shift out a 520 to 530/540.
    If you cooled a 520 nm diode, wouldn't that shift the output towards shorter wavelengths? So you'd end up at 490-500 nm or so.?.

    I suppose you could HEAT the diode and shift it towards longer wavelengths, but I don't think the diode would survive the high temperature.

    Eric (Planters) did some experiments years ago where he cooled red diodes using liquid nitrogen to get shorter wavelengths (so a little more than double the temperatures we're talking about here). I also remember that he had to insulate the hell out of the module to prevent condensation issues though.

    Adam

  6. #6
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    Oct 2010
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    -80°C is almost the maximum archivable. I have spend many hours researching and developing the case to have enough insulation for these temperatures. Insulation is everything with these temperatures.

    Time to cool is not that long, around 2 minutes, maybe a little less. Thats because i optimized the thermal capacity of the diode mount.
    This way the TEC does not need to cool much material. The holder is quite light, below 15g total including diode and optics.

    Sadly 520nm or any blue/green/violet diode uses a different material that does not drift much with temperature. Only Red diodes show this property.

    Heating is not really an option, we can not reach these high temperature deltas to have a good wavelength shift.

    Planters reached much deeper temperatures and did not have a design constrain of using to much cooling power. So his setup was not good isolated, could not be, did not matter. I tried to make something thats actually usable inside a Projector/grating bank/lumia without having to use cryo liquids or high power. Therefor i had to sacrifice ultimate wavelength shift. However i still reached a good balance and got down to "low enough" for an nice orange.

  7. #7
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    Oct 2021
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    Even if greens and blues drift less, if the single mode greens and blues I have even shift by +-3nm by the difference between heating and cooing them, it becomes useful for getting correlative Raman lines.

  8. #8
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    Oct 2010
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    Interesting use for this technology, I would need to check the maximum drift that is reachable with blue/green/cyan.
    What wavelength would you be most interested in? Maybe 405nm? I do have some diodes laying around and a prototype module for trying different diodes.
    So if you want, I could try to "drift" a diode of your liking and see what's possible with solid-state without LN2.

  9. #9
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    really impressive and cool! My only concern would be the lifespan of the diode running at these harsh temperatures and when you cool at as much as you can a higher ambient temperature might give you some problems in terms of performance no?

  10. #10
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    Oct 2010
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    Hello,

    That should not be a problem at all. The lifetime drops by around half if you increase the temperature by 10°C. Allmost all laser diode degradation happens because of temperature related effects (electro migration / facet degradation).
    So lowering the operation temperature while still using the same output power will increase the lifetime by quite a bit.
    For lower temperatures, the diode gets more efficiency, so the current needs to be reduced to not have more output power than the facet can handle. Lower current means also slows electro migration = lower wear.
    So we have two compounding effects that elongate the lifetime. Lower current at lower temperatures.


    Increased ambient temperatures don't matter if you use a tec (like you normally would for diodes). I currently have this setup ready:



    Its running quite nice with a nice orange beam. (660nm and 532nm as a color reference beam)
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails IMG_0806.jpg  


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