I found this forum while researching lasers for about a week, and noticed you guys used a lot of the same technical components as flashlight enthusiasts. I guess this is the part where I talk about myself. :thinking:
I've been into lasers since the 1980s. For those of you familiar with the film "Real Genius", it won't be surprising. I lived a couple of years in Rochester NY and family and friends at Kodak and Xerox and lasers were pretty big back then. I used to follow all the reports on laser tests like the femptosecond lasers and the petawatt laser tests, and the 192 laser fusion experiments. I used to read all sorts of stuff on how lasers worked, and probably knew more 20 years ago than I do now about them. I played with them in highschool and competed in a physics Olympics. Before switching my major, I was going for a physics degree with a specialization in magnetohydrodynamics, and Hannes Alfven was my hero. For an astronomy class, I created a presentation on plasma, and touched briefly on lasers.
In Reality, I know almost nothing about lasers, primarily because I never had the funds to build them. I bought a tiny red laser while in Switzerland, and a tactical green laser in SanFrancisco for my friend, but the battery was dead so I had to partially disassemble it and tested it with a bunch of different batteries, until I got a very bright beam with a 9volt. I used to play with lines of batteries and capselas, and was familiar with overcharging flashlights till they burn out, so I figured it would be stupid to do that to an expensive laser, and we ended up buying new batteries for it, point is I have a lot to learn about lasers.
I'm still very new to these enthusiast batteries like the 18650 and A123 and have tons of questions. Like most people in post-wickedlasers times, I want to buy or make a >1000mw laser, but to be honest, my favorite colors are violet and tanzanite which actually ranges widely between what I'm guessing is 425nm and 465nm. I don't know how a fuchsia laser could be made since it's like red+violet, but I'd love to see a hot pink laser beam. I'm in my last courses at University right now so I'm about to have a whole lot of time and a bit of spare cash to invest in learning this stuff, and will probably take some electronic courses in the Fall or Winter. I know what a bread board is and built a crystal radio, but I don't really understand either. I'm also willing to travel great distances to learn.
I've taken a variety of shop classes including wood, metal, machine trades, drafting, and programming, and was once a blacksmith for night (have photos). I've got a huge interest in alloys like tungsten and aircraft aluminum, and recently wrote a paper on the former.
I guess that sums it up, apologies for the long winded intro.
I've been into lasers since the 1980s. For those of you familiar with the film "Real Genius", it won't be surprising. I lived a couple of years in Rochester NY and family and friends at Kodak and Xerox and lasers were pretty big back then. I used to follow all the reports on laser tests like the femptosecond lasers and the petawatt laser tests, and the 192 laser fusion experiments. I used to read all sorts of stuff on how lasers worked, and probably knew more 20 years ago than I do now about them. I played with them in highschool and competed in a physics Olympics. Before switching my major, I was going for a physics degree with a specialization in magnetohydrodynamics, and Hannes Alfven was my hero. For an astronomy class, I created a presentation on plasma, and touched briefly on lasers.
In Reality, I know almost nothing about lasers, primarily because I never had the funds to build them. I bought a tiny red laser while in Switzerland, and a tactical green laser in SanFrancisco for my friend, but the battery was dead so I had to partially disassemble it and tested it with a bunch of different batteries, until I got a very bright beam with a 9volt. I used to play with lines of batteries and capselas, and was familiar with overcharging flashlights till they burn out, so I figured it would be stupid to do that to an expensive laser, and we ended up buying new batteries for it, point is I have a lot to learn about lasers.
I'm still very new to these enthusiast batteries like the 18650 and A123 and have tons of questions. Like most people in post-wickedlasers times, I want to buy or make a >1000mw laser, but to be honest, my favorite colors are violet and tanzanite which actually ranges widely between what I'm guessing is 425nm and 465nm. I don't know how a fuchsia laser could be made since it's like red+violet, but I'd love to see a hot pink laser beam. I'm in my last courses at University right now so I'm about to have a whole lot of time and a bit of spare cash to invest in learning this stuff, and will probably take some electronic courses in the Fall or Winter. I know what a bread board is and built a crystal radio, but I don't really understand either. I'm also willing to travel great distances to learn.
I've taken a variety of shop classes including wood, metal, machine trades, drafting, and programming, and was once a blacksmith for night (have photos). I've got a huge interest in alloys like tungsten and aircraft aluminum, and recently wrote a paper on the former.
I guess that sums it up, apologies for the long winded intro.
