Blu-ray Laser Gadget 204
i4u writes, "Wicked Lasers has done the unthinkable. They took the sparse blue laser diodes used in Blu-ray Disc drives and are making cool laser gadgets out of them, called Sonar. You can own one of these very limited edition lasers for $1,999.99. The price is that high because Wicked Lasers buys Blu-ray Disc players and removes the Blu-ray diode for the Sonar laser."
Re:Make sure to check out their videos (Score:3, Interesting)
How feasible is a handheld laser weapon? (Say, a few watts?) I realize that the key issue is that the laser does very little damage as it passes through an object. (Actually, it leaves a hole the diameter of the beam. Not very large.) However, I could see the laser rotating through a small arc during fire. That would at least carve out a centimeter or two from the target
That's an interesting question. I suppose carving a hole in someone's brain or heart could cause serious problems almost immediately, but if the wound is cauterized as it is made, it may be a relatively ineffective weapon.
Re:Stupid. (Score:4, Interesting)
I took apart a double layer DVD player for the laser. Output is something over 200mW. The beam puts out some heat and can be used as a tool. You won't find this laser pointer in a store for obvious reasons. Its a $50 cutting torch.
The narrow wavelength from this laser may be more interesting as things can fluoresce.
Re:WTF? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Beyond publicity, is there a point? (Score:5, Interesting)
Red lasers are cheap because they're cheap to make, though the suspiciously cheap ones are, indeed, suspiciously cheaply made. Green lasers are pretty close to the human eye's peak responsiveness, so they appear brighter at a given power level than red or blue lasers.
There are all manner of lasers [wikipedia.org]. CO2, Argon, and other gas lasers. Chemical lasers. Diode lasers. And several other varieties. Hand-held (and small bench) lasers are commonly diode lasers. Low-power red laser diodes are approximately free, which is why they show up everywhere. Infrared laser diodes aren't terribly expensive, even fairly high-powered ones. There is no such thing as a green laser diode. Hand-held green lasers are DPSS lasers [wikipedia.org], in which a high power infrared laser blasts a fancy neodymium compound that outputs a different infrared frequency that in turn hits a frequency-doubling crystal which finally outputs 532nm green light.
The take-home message here is that blue laser light is hard to get so it's expensive. It's also not terribly useful unless you actually need the high frequency for denser data packing. Green laser light is harder to get than red laser light, but in addition to looking cool it legitimately is more visible per watt. Check out the CIE luminosity function [wikipedia.org] - 650nm red light appears about 8x dimmer per watt than 532nm green light. A $100 15mW green laser therefore should appear almost as bright as a $200 200mW red laser. Even though production of green laser light is less efficient than production of red laser light, the green laser should consume somewhat less power than the red one.
Re:Beyond publicity, is there a point? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Even in China they can't get cheap lasers? (Score:3, Interesting)
If the best way to get a blue laser diode is from a player, why not pull it from an HD-DVD player instead, as they're selling for a lot cheaper and have the same blue laser in it, right?
Re:Beyond publicity, is there a point? (Score:3, Interesting)
Is it?
http://www.laserglow.com/bluepointer.html [laserglow.com]