WickedLasers: BlueRay Powered Handheld Laser

Thujone

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here is the snippet, its $2000!!
Sonar™ is the world's only Blu-ray™ powered laser designed to satisfy the desires of true laser enthusiasts.


  • 405nm Blu-ray™ laser diode
  • Spacecraft grade 6061-T6 aluminum casing
  • Super-regulated beam stability
  • High-drain Li-ion power supply
  • Limited edition!
Sonar represents the evolution of portable laser technology.

The fusion of cutting edge technology and sleek styling lets you enjoy the latest in laser technology.

Inspired by dreams. Engineered to reality.

Link
 

idleprocess

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So it uses a blue laser diode rather than the complex arrangement of hand-aassembled and aligned frequency doublers and diode pumps like green and "conventional" blue laser pointers?

Why does it cost so much since using a diode cuts all that complexity (and cost) out of the equation? These should be cheaper than green laser pointers...
 

The_LED_Museum

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Directly-injected blue diode lasers are still horrendously expen$ive; but the cost should decrease fairly rapidly if Blu-Ray-capable DVD players and Playstation 3 consoles take off.

405nm will appear as a bluish-violet color to the eye, and will not be as visible to the eye mW per mW as standard DPSS blue, green, and yellow lasers.

Here's a photograph of a laser like this in a Black Widow-type laser projector:
vlaser2.jpg
 
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FloggedSynapse

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First off I think it's a 'Good Thing' that Wicked is now offering these new diodes in a pointer package. The pointer itself looks slick, nice aluminum body and all.

I can't blame Wicked for the cost either. The price on these Nichia violet LD's is still ludicrous. A lot of the cost is the simply because it's a new device and they are still working out the manufacturing glitches, but some of it is simply patent bullshit too.

Personally I would never spend 2K for this pointer. Perhaps 200... not $2000.00

I like 'direct injection' laser diodes for their simplicity and efficiency. Unfortunately laser diodes are currently only available on either end of the visual spectrum - red and violet. To get colors in the heart of the visual spectrum (450-650 nm) one still has to use DPSS tech. There are many LEDs available (different colors) however unfortunately the same cannot be said for laser diodes. Most of the very expensive economic drivers for laser diodes came about because of CD/DVD players. From this technology they trickled down to pointers. Unfortunately I fear with the development of these violet laser diodes we may never see any laser diodes in the heart of the visual spectrum as the economic drivers for their development will not be there. Most manufacturers are only interested in violet as it allows them to cram for pits onto a disk (higher capacity).

These laser diodes (390-410 nm) are really violet, not blue. Apparently the spot usually appears white as most materials flouresce when hit with radiation at this freq. Blacklight laser. You could also spot-tan yourself with one of these lasers. Since the sensitivity of the eye is poor to these frequencies a 20 mW laser prolly will appear no brighter than a keychain red laser.

Geek stuff. Here's an interview with the lead developer (Nakamura) of these violet laser diodes (2000):
http://www.sciencewatch.com/jan-feb2000/sw_jan-feb2000_page4.htm

Here's an interesting link to an animation showing the various steps needed to create a laser violet diode. Unfortunately I found no way to link directly to the animation.
So, click:
http://mrsec.wisc.edu/Edetc/SlideShow/index.html
Then, under 'topics' click on 'p-n junctions'. Then using the arrows (upper right) you'll have to click 21-22 times to the right. This will get you to a little quicktime animation (MOCVD) showing the various layers that have to be deposited to create on of these LD's. You can see the exquisite nano-scale control needed.

NICHIA laser diode specs:
http://www.nichia.co.jp/product/laser-main.html
(apparently Nichia is developing true blue laser diodes - 440-460 nm - i'm afraid to ask the cost tho)
 
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FloggedSynapse

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The_LED_Museum said:
Directly-injected blue laser diodes at ~440nm cost ~$3,000.00 apiece; not including collimating lens, case, driver circuit, batteries, etc.

Ooof. Hopefully the cost on these will come down sometime before I grow old. Those prices tend to discourage any experimentation :(
 

Canuke

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FloggedSynapse said:
I can't blame Wicked for the cost either. The price on these Nichia violet LD's is still ludicrous. A lot of the cost is the simply because it's a new device and they are still working out the manufacturing glitches, but some of it is simply patent bullshit too.

Well, in this case it's because Wicked is buying up blu-ray DVD players, removing the laser diode, then tossing the rest.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/06/11/13/2119259.shtml

While I understand the economics of it, and I'm not the sort who calls for legal suppression of other's choices that I don't like, that kind of wastage of the rest of the player sticks in my craw. I hope they at least sell 'em for parts or something.
 

YAG

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The 405nm diodes are VERY dim, they work better as a black light than a laser pointer.
 

Athoul

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Certain things flouresce inder near UV light, this is where this laser may find certain uses outside of the normal burning and pointing. At 20mW it's unlikely to burn through anything, though with a lens it should pop balloons etc.
 

allthatwhichis

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Led_Blind said:
What a waste of a blue ray drive....

One man's...crap, waste, garbage, is another man's pimp ***, purdy laser for their laser projector... :lolsign: I ain't got near that much dough for lasers though...
 

Chief117

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Wow, I'm impressed at the rate at which engineering is growing these days. That is one fantastic laser.

Just some advice to anyone who might order one, this is a new technology. That means that if you order it now you are going to be sending it back a few times before you get one that is bug-free, no matter who you order from.

IN CONCLUSION^^^Dont order until you are sure its perfect

Secondly, the prices are going to DROP DROP DROP. If I were you I would invest those 2000 junior bacon cheesburgers until the new PS3 comes out. The prices are probably going to be about a tenth of what they are now in a year or two.

IN CONCLUSION^^^Dont order it until the prices drop.
 

Corona

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Hmmm. Consider the quantum effect (shorter wavelegth = higher energy per photon). The formula for photon energy is

E = h c / l

where h is Planck's constant, c is the velocity of the light, and l (lambda) is the wavelength of the light. Obviously a smaller (shorter) wavelength results in a correspondingly higher energy per photon, which basically means fewer photons per watt.

So...20mW violet (it really is NOT "blue"!!) at 410nm represents about 25% fewer photons than 20mW green at 532nm. Coupled with the well-known human eye response curve, YES it's by far better for finding scorpions in the dark at a distance than as a useful pointer in a lighted conference room. I seriously doubt if the back scatter is even visible - at night.

And I'm not so sure that 20mW violet won't pop a balloon, given the higher photon energy and theoretically smaller potential beam spot size, the energy density should be at least 30% higher, and probably much more than that.

What I'd like to see come down in price (and up in power) are 1064nm diodes - then our greenies would not need that big hungry 808nm pump and lossy Nd:YVO4 stage to get to 1064...instead direct doubling to 532, at about 50% conversion - now that would be a worthy advance.

Not even gonna touch the WL / Blu-ray thang
 

bootleg2go

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Corona said:
Hmmm. Consider the quantum effect (shorter wavelegth = higher energy per photon). The formula for photon energy is

E = h c / l

where h is Planck's constant, c is the velocity of the light, and l (lambda) is the wavelength of the light. Obviously a smaller (shorter) wavelength results in a correspondingly higher energy per photon, which basically means fewer photons per watt.

So...20mW violet (it really is NOT "blue"!!) at 410nm represents about 25% fewer photons than 20mW green at 532nm. Coupled with the well-known human eye response curve, YES it's by far better for finding scorpions in the dark at a distance than as a useful pointer in a lighted conference room. I seriously doubt if the back scatter is even visible - at night.

And I'm not so sure that 20mW violet won't pop a balloon, given the higher photon energy and theoretically smaller potential beam spot size, the energy density should be at least 30% higher, and probably much more than that.

What I'd like to see come down in price (and up in power) are 1064nm diodes - then our greenies would not need that big hungry 808nm pump and lossy Nd:YVO4 stage to get to 1064...instead direct doubling to 532, at about 50% conversion - now that would be a worthy advance.

Not even gonna touch the WL / Blu-ray thang

Hi Corona,
I agree with the 1st portion of your post, but I'm not sure what you're saying in the second part.
Yes 405nm needs fewer photons to create 20mW. But power is Watts, 20mW of 405 is equal to 20mW of 532nm as far as burning power. It just that a 20mW 405nm is putting out fewer photons to create 20mW than a 532nm laser does to produce 20mW. So the burning power is equal provided the other parameters like beam diameter and divergence are the same.

Jack
 

badhorsey

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"Spacecraft-grade casing"... you really have to admire the hyperbole.

Fine if the spacecraft in question is an Imperial Star Destroyer... less so if it's the Challenger or Beagle II.
 

Athoul

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bootleg2go said:
Hi Corona,
I agree with the 1st portion of your post, but I'm not sure what you're saying in the second part.
Yes 405nm needs fewer photons to create 20mW. But power is Watts, 20mW of 405 is equal to 20mW of 532nm as far as burning power. It just that a 20mW 405nm is putting out fewer photons to create 20mW than a 532nm laser does to produce 20mW. So the burning power is equal provided the other parameters like beam diameter and divergence are the same.

Jack

Yep 20mW out is 20mW out across the board. The only difference would be the level it could be focused, yeah you did cover your butt there just though I'd mention it. Also being near UV, it would likely be better at popping balloons due to transparent objects being more opague to that wavelength. I'd imagine it would be much easier to pop a dark semi-transparent balloon with a near UV laser then with a laser that is more securely in the visible spectrum.

These lasers would probably be of more interest to those that are experimenting with near UV light more then anything else. Similar to the audience that the UV Inova X5's etc draws I suppose, though more expensive.
 

Corona

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Yes I well understand that 20mW = 20mW. But the eye is a photon collector, not a thermionic power detector; the perceived brightness of a source of a given power is less dependant on the energy level of the photons as it is on the sheer quantity of them impinging on the retina. So even if the eye had a perfectly flat response of optical power input to optic nerve signal output from UV to IR, blue would STILL appear dimmer than green because there are less blue photons per watt for the retina to collect...

But the florescence effect of blue is higher than that of lower wavelengths, almost wholly due to the quantum effect. So green may appear much brighter to the eye, but it won't light up a scorpion in the desert at night :lol:

It's all academic, anyway - on a lighter note, I wonder how many PS3s and Blu-ray players Sony is going to receive at their global repair depot, only to find...something...missing :lol:

peace
 
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