> I am looking for some IR LED's that have a flat face and
> produce a beam.  I am trying to build a device that will let a person
> walk along a beam and track it with one of those IR modules that
> decode a 33-KHZ carrier.  A laser is overkill and would probably
> produce such a fine beam that it would be hard to find.  The IR LED's
> used in remote controls and similar devices are way too broad for this
> purpose.  What is the nomenclature or part number for such a LED and
> can I buy some from digikey or a similar supplier?

Give us some more details about this beam you need, as distance, opening
"n" radius on "x" distance and so on.  There is no LED to project a
narrow beam for long distances, but the use of lenses solve this
problem, at least for short distance, let say 10 to 20 ft.

The use of a $10 laser diode is not "that" overkill, and offers you a
very long range, some change in the colimated lenses can offers you a
wide beam diameter too.

I made a home perimeter trespassing alarm using two lasers, they travel
several hundred ft reflecting in several small mirrors all around.
Interesting is that the system is based inside the house, going out and
back in via a glass window.  The only problem is a required maintenance
to clean the small mirrors once a month.  Two lasers (12 inches apart)
were used to avoid any false alarm caused by insects or birds. The only
think that can trigger a false alarm is a heavy rain, since the water
drops can deviate the laser, yes they do, but it is easy to
discriminate.  No rain can generate a total laser obstruction for more
than one tenth of a second. The beam diameter at the laser exit is
around 3mm, after travel aprox 500ft it arrives as aprox 30mm, mostly
because the mirrors poor quality.

Wagner.