How much do ‘diffused diodes’… diffuse?? -Laser diffusion sizes at 1cm / 2cm / 3cm!

By OverMachoGrande
Jun 25, 2008

This post is in tandem with the post I made yesterday with the “Gutter Guard mesh printout”.  Basically -as the “gutter guard” printout helps those that don’t have access to a neighborhood Home Depot have a mesh pattern similar to ours- this printout located below will help you if you just want to see the rough size of a diffused diode at the heights of 1cm, 2cm, and 3cm… perhaps for a custom mesh holder, maybe a new design that’s going to put all of ours to shame, or perhaps just to satisfy your curiosity as you are anxiously awaiting to get cracking on your high-powered laser device!

Whatever the reason, I want to stress that this should probably be considered a very rough measurement, but more on that later.  First… No, don’t worry!  lol… I haven’t gone “metric” on you, my fellow American Do-it-Yourselfers!  And the rest of you guys all over the world… I would say that the metric system *is* a much easier system to do measurements with, but I would be in danger of losing my American citizenship if I admitted that out loud!  lol… Kidding, Kidding (but I see you nodding your heads out there)!

Seriously, though.. the metric system is used in our laser power calculations, and the brush bristles always seem to be right at about 2cm, so there you go!  That’s the reason!

And yes, I used a very sophisticated, intricate, state of the art system to get these measurements to you… a 1960’s drill press, left to me -UNOPENED… still in the cool, retro, 1960’s aqua-green box (that I’m now using to store Christmas lights!)- by my grandfather!

This has the same instructions as before… it’s meant to be saved to your computer, PUT INTO YOUR GRAPHICS SOFTWARE, printed out at 8.5” x 11”, and fine tuned by comparing your measuring device with my “scale”.  DO NOT just print this out from your web browser!

This is important, though… remember that while increasing height of the diode increases the coverage area, it drastically reduces power and therefore increases coverage time!  More on that in my laser calculations page, though!

DISCLAIMER: I only had one diode to do this with.  Obviously, there could be differences in each diode!  Also, remember that the power of the beam is stronger in the middle and lessens towards the edges.  As far as I know, there is no way to really gauge that, so once again it’s a ballpark estimate!  Therefore, I personally don’t mind a little overlapping of the edges because chances are it’s only helping to “even out” the power.

All in all, 2cm seems to be a pretty good height for diffused diodes, and they have a good “time factor”, too (20-30 minutes will put you somewhere in the 4-6 joule range).  Also, a quick note… In my laser calculations, I previously figured the size of the diodes at a 2cm height to be about 0.5cm x 2cm. Well, as you can see, the measurements I got at this time are more like 0.8cm x 2.4cm.  I still think those original calculations are fine because the “fringes” do get pretty weak.

And, on top of that, it’s close enough for me! When I develop the laser calculations section more and you see how things like scalp reflectability and the distance from the diode to the follicle play into the power… you’ll say “close enough”, too!

I hope this helps to answer the multitude of questions that I get asking “How much do diffused diodes actually diffuse?”.

-O.M.G.