Pulsing and characterization of a diode laser

Abstract

Laser in the form of laser diode are in widespread use today. Diode laser are used in large number of industrial applications, the most prevalent use of the laser diode is probably in CD and DVD drives for computer and audio or video media systems. Diode laser are also used in many other applications varying from laser photocopy machines and printer to optical fiber communication, medicine and some areas of IC manufacture. Pulsing a laser diode can be powerful analytical tool for testing its quality and thermal efficiency. This study describes method to pulse a continuous wave laser diode. An inexpensive laser pointer was utilized as a laser source. The pulser device was developed using 555 monostable current. The pulsed laser diode then was detected by high speed photodetector.