A Laser Driver is a controller which manages the Laser Beam Output. As compared to LED Light, the Laser Light is much more concentrated and focused; this means that the laser would have a smaller and narrower viewing angle. Laser Light is monochromatic. In other words, Laser Light has the same wavelength and same energy throughout.
Laser Driver Circuits are used in several applications viz. CD Players, CD-ROM Drives, and some more optical storage devices. They are also used in Laser Printers, Laser Fax Machines, Bar-Code Readers, in high-performance imagers, and lot more. A Laser Driver Circuit is a closed circuit which limits the amount of current incoming in the Laser Diode so that it functions correctly. Too much current will cause the Laser Diode to blow. Explained here is the procedure to construct a Laser Driver Circuit. For that, you would need a voltage regulator, an electrolytic capacitor, voltage source, diodes and few resistors. 1. Laser Diode The Laser Diode used for the making of the Laser Driver Circuit is 650 Nm Red Laser Diode. 2. LM317 Voltage Regulator IC This will be an adjustable voltage regulator. 3. 0.1µF ceramic capacitor This is the first capacitor that will be used to filter the high-frequency noise that is supplied from the DC Power Supply. 4. 1µF electrolytic capacitor This second capacitor is used so that it serves as a power load balancer to smoothen out the fluctuating signals. 5. 240Ω Resistor This is used to determine the output voltage at the terminals of the LM317 regulator. 6. 300Ω Resistor This is used to regulate the voltage at the output. 7. Heatsink This Heatsink would be used to dissipate the excessive heat generated by the regulator. 8. 4 AA batteries or DC power supply This 4AA Battery is used for 6V input voltage. But if you are using the heatsink, then you need to supply 9V voltage supply. From making an effective Laser Driver Circuit, you would need to contact Analog Technologies. And here you can build a simple and traditional, yet effective Laser Diode Driver Circuit.