For interest. High power diode laser bars.
From another list.

>> On Tue, 10 Feb 2004, David Weinshenker wrote:
>> > So what sort of laser does this take? Is it an off-the-shelf
>> > commercial item, or something that you need a megabuck and a
>> > security clearance to buy??

The lasers used for solid propellant ignition are off-the-shelf
fiber-coupled laser diode bars. These typically produce 20-40W at
808nm or 9xx nm (your choice), out of a 500 micron to 1000 micron
fiber bundle. The entire laser unit is about 2X3X5cm -- very small.
Electrical requirements are constant current of about 1.5A per watt of
output, with a voltage drop of around 2.5V. The power supply is
non-trivial for decent lifetime, but in a one-off missile ignition
scenario, a good two-cell NiCd battery and resistor would suffice.
These units are used commonly for other applications, which is where I
gain my familiarity with them, and rocket ignition accounts for an
insignificantly miniscule fraction of sales. They are still not cheap.
A 15W fiber coupled diode bar is about US$2500 at the cheapest in
single quantity, and the price scales almost linearly with power, with
a premium for higher power units.

http://exrocketry.net/mailman/listinfo/arocket

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList
mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu