Is this normal?

[BT132435]

My red laser pointer's beam has the same look as the "white noise" screen on a television set. But red of course.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

Sounds to me like the lens is very, very dirty, or even missing altogether. :sick2:

 

[BT132435]

hmm .... does this mean it's not safe to use? Because i use it as a toy for my cats :green:

 

[BT132435]

Oh and it's still a dot, just a little rectangular. The dot itself has the properties i mentioned above

 

[Corona]

Dusty lens. Probably pocket lint that has accumulated over the past ten years

You can try using a dust-off type product (compressed air in a can). Trying to get in there to clean it with a q-tip or similar method usually just pushes the dirt around and can make it worse.

If the cat isn't complaining about the speckled beam, you really don't have to do anything.

And all low-cost diode lasers have a rectangular beam profile (the laser chip is not round). Some of the beam may be "lost" off the edges of the round lens and make it appear elliptical or nearly round, but it actually starts out rectangular.

So yeah it's normal and as safe as it ever was.

 

[BT132435]

cool! thanks for the info guys, gonna go mess around with my cats now =p

 

[Heruursciences]

The effect you are referring to "graininess" in the beam is normal, it's called speckle. It is caused by interference of the waves of light hitting a surface that is not perfectly smooth.