laser autofocus signal flickering

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sometimes, for no apparent reason, the laser autofocus laser flickers. even with a wait time after laser turn on signal it flickers (measured with up to 50ms warm up). increasing exposure time also did not fundamentallly fix this issue (and at the same time made the signal unusably saturated)
the only observed way to solve this is to keep the laser on for up to a minute. over time this flickering stabilizes. the problem is that the flickering returns after this stabilization within a couple seconds of the laser being off. increasing laser power in hardware does not solve this issue, and no plugs have been found to make improper contact.