[Laser] Looking and Learning About Solid State Lasers

[Joe Fitzgerald]

> What are the limitations and capabilities of a DPSS laser ?
>

Many of the low cost DPSS lasers you are likely to find on eBay are
relatively slow ... a bandwidth of 5 kHz or so.  Plenty to make some
QSO's, but you won't move data particularly quickly.  The beam quality
tends to be pretty marginal, they often use plastic lenses optimized for
cost. And they don't tolerate overvoltage very well.  Accumulated remorse
forces me to tell you to use some sort of fixed voltage power supply ...
if you use a variable lab supply someone sooner or later will crank it up
too high.   Pop goes the weasel.

One of the nicest things about these lasers is that they emit where the
human eye is most sensitive, so you can see the beam more easily for a
given output power than red lasers.  They are low cost and tiny, and you
don't have to fool around with HV supplies like HeNe's etc.

-Joe KM1P