Real Green Laser Diodes in All Laser Modules
It’s About Time – Available Now!
D66-074
Effective immediately, all FLEXPOINT® laser modules are available with green 520 nm laser diodes. They are a viable alternative to conventional frequency-doubled DPSS solid state lasers.
These semiconductor lasers, which emit at 520 nm, can be integrated into dot lasers, line lasers, cross-hair lasers, and all of our machine vision lasers (i.e., MVfemto, MVpico, MVnano, MVmicro, and MV12). There are two laser diodes available: one with an output power of 30 mW and the other with an output power of 50 mW. Both laser diodes can be set to operate at lower power levels in production; thus, all power levels of <=50 mW can be achieved with green FLEXPOINT® laser modules.
We, as a laser module manufacturer, profit from these new laser diodes and so do you as a customer. The advantages of a direct green laser diode compared to a DPSS laser are pretty obvious:
- Smaller housing designs
- Better stability of the optical output power
- Significantly faster modulation with shorter rise times
- Lower temperature sensitivity
- Higher operating temperature: up to 60°C
- Less power consumption
In the years to come, we expect to see other manufacturers with laser diodes in the green wavelength range and with different output power levels on the market.
We will be following this trend closely. New products will be tested in our laser modules immediately and made available to our customers as quickly as possible.
Sample modules with the new laser diodes from Osram are currently available in all of our FLEXPOINT® series – at reasonable prices and short delivery times!
Would you like to replace your DPSS laser? Or, have you had trouble implementing your application due to the drawbacks of DPSS lasers?
Contact us today! Our development team always looks forward to new challenges.
History of the Green Laser Diode
Why did it take so long for green laser diodes to finally become available?
For an answer to that question, we will have to look at the history of laser diodes. During the development of laser diodes, the demand always focused on shorter and shorter wavelengths because that led to the ability to increase the resolution on storage media like CDs and DVDs.
The wavelength development of laser diodes began decades ago in the near infrared range (850 nm/785 nm) and worked its way down to 685 nm, 660 nm, 650, and finally 635 nm. Although the production numbers have tended to decrease in the past few years, these lasers are still used in very high numbers in consumer applications, for example CD and DVD players.
The consumer market has dominated in the past and is still far beyond “our” application purpose in industrial laser modules today. Although LASER COMPONENTS manufactures 25,000 to 30,000 laser modules a year, we still depend on the big players in the electronic entertainment industry to determine the (developmental) pulse. It is not surprising that after red laser diodes, the focus switched immediately to laser diodes in the blue (450 nm) and violet (405 nm) wavelength ranges. It became possible to manufacture products such as Blu-ray players, video game consoles, and optical storage devices very early on. Just consider the following: How many Blu-ray players, Playstations, or Wiis does your family have? How many laser diodes?
The fact that green light appears much brighter to the human eye than red light and that green light would present a definite advantage for our customers in the majority of applications was not taken into consideration by laser diode manufacturers at first. This changed with the increasing demand for miniaturized projectors that can be connected to a tablet PC or a smartphone; in fact in the future, projectors will be integrated directly into these devices. For the purpose of projecting the primary colors of red, green, and blue, red and blue were already available – only green was missing.
The prospects of a new “trendy” mass market set the large manufacturers in motion to finally develop green laser diodes.
Datasheet:
Further product information:
FLEXPOINT® Dot and Line Lasers
Manufacturer:
LASER COMPONENTS Germany / Laser Modules
Contact:
| Contact Person: | Jochen Maier |
| Company: | Laser Components Germany GmbH |
| Address: | Werner-von-Siemens-Str. 15 |
| ZIP / City: | 82140 Olching |
| Phone: | +49 (0) 8142 2864-22 |
| Fax: | +49 (0) 8142 2864-11 |
| Email: | jochen.maier@lasercomponents.com |
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