Pulsed 5 mW Laser stability

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larryt40
 
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Joined: Wed May 13, 2015 5:42 pm

Pulsed 5 mW Laser stability

Post by larryt40 »

I purchased the 5 mW Laser, product number 1054, from Adafruit. I am using an Arduino Nano to drive a common emitter transistor with the Laser connected to the collector and then going to 5V supplied by the Arduino.

I have used an LED in this application and got good results. The LED seems to have better power stability. However, the Laser has a built-in current source as far as I can tell from the literature.

My big need is for the Laser to stabilize quickly and have the wavelength stability that Lasers are supposed to give in general. I could use the TTL switched Laser diode, product number 1056 which tops out at 50 kHz switching speed, but I figured I could drive it myself and save a lot of money.

Is there any information regarding the switching performance of the Laser diode module(s)?

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adafruit2
 
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Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 7:36 pm

Re: Pulsed 5 mW Laser stability

Post by adafruit2 »

yeah, what you're doing is not a good idea...the power supply may need time to stabilize, so turning the whole on & off wont give consistant results

that's what the TTL control laser is for :)

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