Driving laser diodes

[spuffock]

Should anyone be interested, POUNDLAND are selling some laser line generators for but a pound each, and the laser diodes are EASILY REMOVABLE for other uses. They have a 15 ohm current limit resistor for use on 3 volts, easy to bypass if needed.
They will go a bit brighter at 4 volts, but there is a damage threshold that is soon exceeded.
I assume that a good deal more power is available for a microsecond at a time, but does anyone know how far you can push it?

 

[Sceadwian]

It's difficult to say without detailed knowledge of the semi conductor junctions. The big deal is the junction temperature can't pass a certain threshold, or the junction either decomposes or vaporizes. Without knowing exactly how big the junction(s) are and the material's thermal charactoristics it's difficult to exactly figure out how far you can push them. The easiest way is to test till failure, but that could be costly even with a cheap device. Even then what's the point? It's easier to buy a laser diode that has an increased power level than it is to try to cram the last miliwatt of power for a short pulse, and to what end? You could increase the power pretty dramatically, but for literally microseconds, and there would have to be significant cool down time.

 

[sam2]

Here is a good site: https://www.repairfaq.org/sam/laserdps.htm#dpssg2
I am interested in lasers too, I built a driver from this site for a dvd laser diode.
I have not burned it out yet!

I just bought A book called "light and its uses", and I am going to try to build a nitrogen laser. If I can get that to work, I want to build a co2 laser.