How should I use this laser diode from eBay?

Question

I am new to lasers. I have some 5mW pointers, but thats it. I want to have something more powerful, and I happened to find this 50mW laser diode with driver:

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=311028329241&alt=web

From the meager description it seems to me all I have to do is putting a 3V supply voltage on the two wires. I, however, could not find anything related to their usage, and due to my lack of experience I am pretty unsure. Am I right? Is there any other thing I should do to make them work as long and as bright as possible?

(I am not really sure if this is on-topic here, and sorry if it isn't. I just couldn't find a better place to ask this.)

Answer 1

If you mean to use them continuously you will want to heatsink them. Otherwise yes, you can just apply 3V. All the circuitry needed is in the attached driver.

Be aware that many such cheap laser modules are underspec, so it might not actually output 50mW of green light.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this isn't actually a green laser diode. It is a DPSS module, meaning it is an infrared laser diode pumping a crystal pair which is what creates the green laser light. This makes them quite unstable, output is highly dependent on temperature, and the module can be damaged by shock that disalign or shatter the crystals.