Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Green Laser vs Ballons (geek alert?)

from what I understand, the color is what matters in putting a hole in stuff. the shorter the wavelength, the more heat gets generated



maybe



regarldess, the diodes to make anything but a red laser are supposed to be way expensive. I remember I saw a green laser pointer once, and it was like $200. blue/white is the worst though...(blueray anyone?:D)

Dan's Data was talking about lasers and how they have to have all this battery sapping crap to make it green.

Apparantly it starts off with a UV laser that's just off the color spectrum. Then they add a filter that moves it even farther off the spectrum... Finally they add a 2nd filter that moves it very close to the wavelength the eye is most sensitive to. Was saying if you really wanted to, you could take a green laser and remove the filters so you could burn people's eyes

Simple version of what he was sayin, if I understood correctly!

Yeah pretty much... The green lasers that are coming out for laser pointers and such are typically Diode Pumped Solid State lasers (DPSS). They use a 1064 nm (wavelength = infrared) diode that pumps a frequency double crystal (which halves the wavelength to 532 nm = green). It is the frequency double crystal that is costly, which is why anything other than a red diode laser is expensive.

A 150 mW laser (any color) will not have a problem popping a balloon by burning a hole through it, or a piece of paper, or skin... I used my hand as a shutter for a 90 mW green laser once, and it worked for about 5 seconds before I started to get burned

DAMN!

My roomate has a green laser. . .