I thought lasers only were ONE wavelength? why is IR emitted?

[supermario680]

Excuse the dumb question.... but I thought lasers only emitted light in their ONE particular wavelength.... so WHY do I hear about various red/green/blue lasers containing INFRARED light as well???

Someone shine a beam on this please!!

 

[Things]

All you need to know and more Diode-pumped solid-state laser - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

tl;dr some lasers use an IR diode to pump certain crystals (or combinations of them), causing them to lase at the output wavelength. If an IR filter is not installed in the laser, then some of the IR from the pump diode can escape.

 

[djQUAN]

And you also have laser diodes with multiple dies inside each giving a different wavelength for a different purpose (ex: CD/DVD lasers which have both red and IR diodes in one case)

 

[supermario680]

I'm aware 532nm DPSS lasers are actually frequency doubled 1064nm IR so it makes sense if some leaks through... But what about red 632 and blue 405/445 lasers? I thought the emitted some IR too for some reason... Or am I mistaken?

 

[NightExplorer96]

I'm aware 532nm DPSS lasers are actually frequency doubled 1064nm IR so it makes sense if some leaks through... But what about red 632 and blue 405/445 lasers? I thought the emitted some IR too for some reason... Or am I mistaken?

Those are just diodes, no crystals involved :san:

 

[supermario680]

Those are just diodes, no crystals involved :san:

I see, finally found it at the VERY end of the hazards section, looks like only DPSS lasers contain IR emissions, and simple diode only based lasers do not contain IR. My mistake, thanks!!

 

[Livinloud]

MultiLine Argon, one beam, multiple lines of wavelengths until split

 

[123splat]

Do NOT forget, as noted by djQUAN, some older cd/dvd sleds have diode cans with two LASING elements (I.R & Red) for write (I.R.) & read (Red). few and far between, but they are out there.

 

[Deleted member 17304]

Or you can have a sample diode that spits out 476nm and 480nm from being overdriven like styropyro does

A few other sample diodes do this :shhh:

 

[supermario680]

Do NOT forget, as noted by djQUAN, some older cd/dvd sleds have diode cans with two LASING elements (I.R & Red) for write (I.R.) & read (Red). few and far between, but they are out there.

Yup!

MultiLine Argon, one beam, multiple lines of wavelengths until split

Super cool