Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!cos!ssr
From: ssr@cos.com (Dave Kucharczyk)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: LASER diodes
Message-ID: <1249@cos.com>
Date: 29 Mar 88 01:35:25 GMT
References: <5451@spool.cs.wisc.edu| <2547@ihuxv.ATT.COM> <3203@ncrcae.Columbia.NCR.COM>
Reply-To: ssr@cos.UUCP (Dave Kucharczyk)
Distribution: na
Organization: Corporation for Open Systems, McLean, VA
Lines: 14

>>In article <5451@spool.cs.wisc.edu| cad@speedy.cs.wisc.edu (Owner of VLSI software) writes:
>>|How much current should be put through a laser diode from
>>|a compact disc player?
>>|
>>|200ma is my guess (a friend used about 1.2A and it slowly
>>|got dimmer).
>>


  More than likely it was getting dimmer because it was burning up, very much
like LED's do.  I believe that CD players use pulsed diodes, which will 
be destroyed if you apply DC to them for any appreciable amount of time.

dave