The 405nm Blu-ray Laser Diode

Blu-ray laser diodes are unique for their near ultra violet (405nm) wavelength. Despite having the nickname “Blu-ray” the wavelength appears violet to our eyes. The 405nm wavelength is on the edge of the visibility spectrum of our eyes, so it does not appear as bright as other wavelengths. So if you are looking for a laser diode with a bright visible beam and dot, a blu-ray laser diode would not be your first choice.

Blu-ray laser diodes are great for your “burning” experiments. They are considered much better for burning then other wavelengths at the same power level. This is because of a unique property of the low 405nm wavelength. Blu-ray laser diodes will easily burn lighter colored objects, while red and green lasers will only burn darker colored objects with ease.

Blu-ray laser diodes also have on an effect on fluorescent objects. Shine your blu-ray laser on a glow-in-the-dark object and it will instantly be charged with glow.

 Here’s a very robust blu-ray laser diode, that is great for a first time project:

12X Blu-ray Laser Diodes

The highest power blu-ray laser diode available are found in 12X Blu-ray “writers” or “burners.” These laser diodes can be pushed to almost 1000mW’s of power, but will likely not live long at those levels. A safer power level to run your blu-ray diode would be around 500mW’s to 700mW’s. For this, you would need to supply the diode with around 400mA to 500mA of current from a laser diode driver, depending on the diode efficiency, lens used, etc.

This blu-ray writer contains a 12x blu-ray diode, as well as a high power red and IR laser diode:

8X Blu-ray Laser Diodes

These high power blu-ray laser diodes are found in 8X Blu-ray “writers” or “burners.” These diodes typically output around 400mW’s to 500mW’s of power when run at a current of 300mA to 400mA from a laser diode driver.

6X Blu-ray Laser Diodes

There are two main blu-ray laser diodes found in 6X Blu-ray “writers” or “burners.” There is the GGW-H20L diode and the lower quality SF-AW210 diode. The GGW-H20L diode will output near 200mW’s when driven at 200mA’s while the SF-AW210 diode will output around 120mW’s to 140mW’s when driven at the same current.