combining beams

[badger1666]

hi
stanwax
i have raped an old dvd rom for the cube
pointed a laser at it it only splits the beam 70/30 can they do that proberly not worth combining two beams with that one then
point laser at reflection face and that passes as much as the straight through side

[stanwax]

try rotating the diode while pointing it through the cube.
you will see the light that is exiting at 90 degrees will change in brightness. Turn the diode till this is minimal. Then try shining the second diode through the side & rotate this so maximum is bounced by the 45 degree surface within the cube.
This will get you much more than 70/30

rob

[The_Doctor]

Doc, you were pushing that Opnext tester to 225mW: <- EDIT - 220mW
http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...6&postcount=53
Before it died:
http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...1&postcount=68

Whatever the failure time when overdriving any diode CW, I think your statement that in an analogue projector the diodes are rarely pushed to the max, is a worthy point to note. Most of these DVD diodes will pulse at well over 300mW so there's some headroom for overdiving them in this environment - as opposed to CW in a lab.

True. Sorry. Really is getting hard to keep track. What I said then was right whatever my memory of it became. Still disconcerting though, the Rohm's will do it for not much less time. I guess the ratio of price to performance is about the same for each type. Approximately 25&#37; extra in each case for the Opnext's.

Rob, I'll look at that point when I get round to trying to mount stuff for a combiner. I just tested a cube or two by hand to see how much I could get through mine by transmission and reflection. Never got round to building one yet because the fact that I could get more money for parts than for two complete hand built lasers was so discouraging I didn't do anything beyond test a few ideas for a while (like that HTS2000 stuff). Seems like you found the right idea too, build to order. Nothing else makes sense because only the person who ordered the build has any special reason to value it.