I wonder if my nvd would see a co2 laser beam?

This is really a silly proposition, but I got to wondering whether or not my cheap gen 1 nvd would be able to see the beam from my co2 laser? The wavelength of the laser is much longer than the wavelengths the nvd is sensitive too (if I understand the relationship between nanometers and microns), but the laser is rated at 40 watts...I'd have to have a safe target to aim the laser at while looking with the nvd for sure!

Anybody ever tried this? If it worked it would be a neat way to see how quickly the laser beam diverges.

v8440 said:

This is really a silly proposition, but I got to wondering whether or not my cheap gen 1 nvd would be able to see the beam from my co2 laser? The wavelength of the laser is much longer than the wavelengths the nvd is sensitive too (if I understand the relationship between nanometers and microns), but the laser is rated at 40 watts...I'd have to have a safe target to aim the laser at while looking with the nvd for sure!

Anybody ever tried this? If it worked it would be a neat way to see how quickly the laser beam diverges.

Click to expand...

What NM is your laser? Did I read that right 40 WATS !?!?!?!?!?!?! Holy crap... Is that replacement for a cutting torch?

IPSC_GUY
SIERRA II ALPHA

It's 10.6 microns, the wavelength most carbon dioxide lasers operate at. (There's another possible mode that's a little shorter wavelength, but not much.) If I understand the unit conversion correctly, it's 10,600 nm. It probably wouldn't see anything unless I aimed it directly at the nvd, in which case the nvd would burst into flames, but I'd like to see if it could detect the beam from somewhere other than IN the beam.

Yes, it's 40 watts. It will literally cause things to catch fire from across a room, quickly, without any focusing. (Not random objects, but stuff placed specifically for tests.) This is not even remotely like those pen pointers you read about that will light a match or pop a balloon. The laser tube is a meter long.

Most NVD's don't see above about 1.5 microns (IIRC) or so. It takes specially NVDs with cooled optics to see at 10 microns. However, at your laser power level, there may be enough leakage down near 1 microns or so for the NVD to see something; but my guess is no...

It sounds like you are refering to a surgical laser, 10600 nm, I don't think nv goggles would be able to see it. A nd/yag laser is 1060 nm and I think nv could see it, I have used image plates with a black light to verify beam profiles on nd/yag lasers. To test you could fire the laser at a wet towel and look for scatter, CO2 lasers are absorbed 100% by water.

it's actually kind of a double edged sword, the NVD won't see the actual beam @ 10,600nm BUT it CAN see the Heat given off the dust particles in the air that are heated by the beam. we used to use NVD to check beam alignment in an older Mitz 5kW laser cutter and you could only see the beam as it collided with the particulate in the air.