# GaAIAs laser diodes, what are they???



## luvlasers (Jun 22, 2007)

Came across GaAIAs laser diodes which i have no idea about.

Are these lasers just lasers that have GaAIAs as the lasing medium in the diode?

From what i can understand (which is not much) GaAIAs diodes have an output in 808nm spectrum and the final output is normally IR. How different is this from the average IR or red laser pointer?

Any info on GaAIAs lasers would be appreciated, i'm completely confused at the moment.


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## teaken (Jun 22, 2007)

The below might help copied from wikipedia, interesting stuff:
The green light is generated in an indirect process, beginning with a high-power (typically 100-300 mW) infrared AlGaAs laser diode operating at 808 nm. The 808 nm light pumps a crystal of Neodymium-doped Vanadate (or Nd:YAG or less common Nd:YLF), which lases deeper in the infrared at 1064 nm. The vanadate crystal is coated on the diode side with a dielectric mirror that reflects at 1064 nm and transmits at 808 nm. The crystal is mounted on a copper block, acting as a heatsink; its 1064 nm output is fed into a crystal of potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP), mounted on a heatsink in the laser cavity resonator. The orientation of the crystals must be matched, as they are both anisotropic and the Nd:YVO4 outputs polarized light. This unit acts as a frequency doubler, and halves the wavelength to the desired 532 nm. The resonant cavity is terminated by a dielectric mirror that reflects at 1064 nm and transmits at 532 nm. An infrared filter behind the mirror removes IR radiation from the output beam, and the assembly ends in a collimator lens. The output power of most green laser pointers is on the order of 5 mW.


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## luvlasers (Jun 22, 2007)

Thanks Teaken.

I'm still a little confused. The information you pasted from wikipedia refers to AlGaAs not GaAIAs. Looks like two different types of material. I'm guessing that both are the active light emitting material in the semiconductor but thats JUST a guess. 

A more likely guess than GaAIAs being the solid gain medium like doped YAG crytals.

Still confused


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## teaken (Jun 22, 2007)

somehow my brain reorganized the letters and I saw AlGaAs, maybe I need to get my eyes checked... :candle:


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## ajohnson (Jun 22, 2007)

From what I can tell, the sites with GaAIAs are mistaking a L for an I, and are actually talking about the same thing (GaAlAs = AlGaAs)


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## nerdgineer (Jun 22, 2007)

Incredible that DX can sell such a thing including case, PCB, collimator, batteries, and a gift box for $26 (?) shipped. It sounds like it should cost 10 times that....


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## luvlasers (Jun 22, 2007)

nerdgineer said:


> Incredible that DX can sell such a thing including case, PCB, collimator, batteries, and a gift box for $26 (?) shipped. It sounds like it should cost 10 times that....


 
Ummm as far as i can see, Dx's lasers do not use GaAIA, what ever that is.


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