Difference between LED and LASER power driving

Thread Starter

federico.massimi

Joined Apr 14, 2020
1
Hi, I wanted to know if there are and what are the differences between a power supply for a high power LED and a high power laser diode.
I ask why I would like to know if I can use a schematic for a LED driver also for a laser of similar power.
 

Dodgydave

Joined Jun 22, 2012
11,285
Any DC psu will drive a Led or Laser diode as long as it can give the required output in Watts and Amps, usually these are Constant Current driven.
 

danadak

Joined Mar 10, 2018
4,057
In both cases a power supply that can sense module T and regulate power/current
being delivered to device.


Regards, Dana.
 

michael8

Joined Jan 11, 2015
410
Stability and accuracy. A bit too much power into a LED will make it brighter and possibly reduce it lifetime. The same
into a laser can break it instantly (< 1 uSec) as the high optical power blows off pieces of the semiconductor. So can
a static discharge. So a little extra voltage peak on turn on can easily destroy a laser diode.

Also the difference between the correct lasing current and too much may be very small and vary with temperature.
A lot of laser diodes have a feedback photodiode which can be used to sense the laser power and to adjust the
driving power as the temperature changes.
 
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