questions for you laser experts..

shimmeringtrance

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
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22
i have a few questions for you guys. 1st, how much power is needed IYO to see a green beam laser clearly even in daylight? if i understand it correctly even the high power handhelds (100mw) cannot be seen in daylight. so what would we be looking at, 2 watts+ or something, maybe? also, how powerful do you guys see handhelds ultimately getting that consumers can buy? do you guys think there will be 500mw handhelds eventually? and will all colors of the laser rainbow be available - blue, yellow, purple, etc? and as high power units come out, will the prices drop dramatically for the current high power units? i just want to hear a few opinions here, doesnt have to be necessarily super accurate - and thanks. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Not sure about how much power is needed to show a beam in daylight, I've never seen that much power in a laser anyway.

Handheld laser units are available in blue and yellow already, both from CNI Lasers. Yellows are expensive, Blues are extortionate,

I'm quite a newbie to the whole laser scene too and I'm interested as to how much power can possibly be blown out my a hand-held unit. Shiftlock on here has modified his PGL3 (I guess it would have started at 160-190mw ish, and these are the most powerful readily available hand held units) to 305mw, and he says he reckons he can get 400mw+ out of it.
 
Purple (violet) is also available, but you'd probably have to "roll your own" if you want a laser like this in pointer format.
Deep blue/blue-violet (435-445nm) is available up to 40mW; violet (400-410nm) up to 5mW.

Both of these are directly-injected laser diodes; no crystals or MCA of any type is used.
 
yeah i know the colors i mentioned are available, i mean are they likely to eventually be in the same price range as the greens and reds?
anyone care to speculate on my other questions?
 
I'm no laser expert, but it's not legal in the U.S. to use a laser outdoors without a permit if it's over 5 mW. Lasers with power higher than that can permanently damage a person's vision before they can blink, whether by a direct hit or by spectral reflections. At the 100 mW level you mentioned, you're really getting into territory dangerous for vision.

500 mW and over is class IV territory, where your skin can get burned or worse and where even diffuse reflections may present a hazard to vision. You wouldn't want a handheld laser with that power-it belongs in a lab with adequate safety provisions, or in a laser light show run by professionals.

Here are some laser safety links:

http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/lasersaf.htm#safyor

http://www.laserinstitute.org/publications/safety_bulletin/

Bill D.
 
thanks for the safety links but i've read up quite a bit on lasers. i guess i should have been more specific in my questions, i was just curious where people think the hendhelds are going power-wise, color-wise, etc. specifically ones available to consumers, not modified versions of something else. thanks.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Bond007 said:
Not sure about how much power is needed to show a beam in daylight, I've never seen that much power in a laser anyway.

Handheld laser units are available in blue and yellow already, both from CNI Lasers. Yellows are expensive, Blues are extortionate,

I'm quite a newbie to the whole laser scene too and I'm interested as to how much power can possibly be blown out my a hand-held unit. Shiftlock on here has modified his PGL3 (I guess it would have started at 160-190mw ish, and these are the most powerful readily available hand held units) to 305mw, and he says he reckons he can get 400mw+ out of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

That laser is now running at 385mW when fully warm, and it seems reliable and stable at that output. The beam is not visible in sunlight, but you can see it a bit on an overcast day or in the shade on a sunny day. It's visible in a well-lit room. I was popping balloons with it from nearly 100 feet away the other day.

I have the yellow and blue versions on order, so I'll have the complete PGL set (old-style green, new-style green, yellow and blue). I also have a special >400mW 980nm IR laser on the way to me from CNI. Knowing CNI, that one is probably well over half a watt, and it's the size of a Leadlight. I don't know what I'm going to do with that, since I'm afraid to even turn it on. hmmm... I think I'll start a new post and offer it for trade.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Shiftlock said:
[ QUOTE ]
Bond007 said:
Not sure about how much power is needed to show a beam in daylight, I've never seen that much power in a laser anyway.

Handheld laser units are available in blue and yellow already, both from CNI Lasers. Yellows are expensive, Blues are extortionate,

I'm quite a newbie to the whole laser scene too and I'm interested as to how much power can possibly be blown out my a hand-held unit. Shiftlock on here has modified his PGL3 (I guess it would have started at 160-190mw ish, and these are the most powerful readily available hand held units) to 305mw, and he says he reckons he can get 400mw+ out of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

That laser is now running at 385mW when fully warm, and it seems reliable and stable at that output. The beam is not visible in sunlight, but you can see it a bit on an overcast day or in the shade on a sunny day. It's visible in a well-lit room. I was popping balloons with it from nearly 100 feet away the other day.

I have the yellow and blue versions on order, so I'll have the complete PGL set (old-style green, new-style green, yellow and blue). I also have a special >400mW 980nm IR laser on the way to me from CNI. Knowing CNI, that one is probably well over half a watt, and it's the size of a Leadlight. I don't know what I'm going to do with that, since I'm afraid to even turn it on. hmmm... I think I'll start a new post and offer it for trade.

[/ QUOTE ]
i'll trade you jason giambi and two first round draft choices for it.
 
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