The best laser ever with the best expander ever :)

Thru a simple custom adapter made by a dear friend of mine and a spare part grabbed from an old LG beam expander, I have adapted the stunning Hercules 600 with the awesome 532nm Linos beam expander.
I was not sure if this very expensive Galilean four lenses beam expander could be adapted and utilized with an handheld laser. In fact, this BE was originally made for the high-powered cutting and engraving machines, and usually used together a special expensive focusing lens called Theta lenses.
Besides this, is not so simple to focusing a dot, because this BE has two smooth regulations: one for the focus and one for the expansion factor, aka beam diameter! This means that I can focalize a very small dot dozens of miles away! The two regulations are not totally independent, but there is enough combinations to obtain somewhat incredible!
The minimum focus that I obtained was at 1.5 meters from the aperture, that is a good result.
The costs of the Linus BE in Europe is about 1600 euros (!!!), but I have luckly found an used Linus BE on eBay for a fraction of the cost in excellent conditions !!!

Here are some nice shots:

The performance graph:



The Linus BE is a very high quality product and mount exceptional german lenses. The power loss is only 2-3%, so I have lost only 12-18 mW, that is more than acceptable !!

Some shots of the monsters:









This is a small bright dot focused against a palace wall at about 1 km far away during daylight! Don't be alarmed, I haven't hit any window :



.. and now see how tiny is the beam also when focused to the infinite! It remind me the diameter of the beautiful Optotronic RPL:





In the near future I'm planning to bought another 532nm for the 1.5W 520 nm, and the 355nm version for the 450/465nm laser diodes.
For the 520nm and 465nm before the BE I will use also the optical correction kit, so the result will be devastating !! :drool:

This is the coating range for the Linos 532nm version:



This is the coating range for the Linos 355nm version:



The power loss will be in the range of 6-7% because the knee of the coating was centered for lower frequences, but is is still acceptable!

And I thought the Hercules alone was already way too big...

Definitely a nice expander you got there. Every time you post a thread I know it's something spectacular and unique!

Thanks for the nice words, really appreciated! :beer:

Nice! That is one looooong handheld laser you have there

-Alex

Wow more like a laser RPG sweet

Very nice, and what a great find on that expander.

It's nice to see a real pinpoint laser beam, I have slide focus lenses that are wider than the factory lenses they replace on many of my DPSS 532's just after the gradient index lens and they make tight dots on a concrete wall 125 yards from my window where the multi mode lasers can only make a big multi line rectangle.

If you ever look at your best focus with a multi mode on a wall through binoculars you can see the bar has dim bars above and below, just like it comes out of the diode.

The adjacent wavelengths do not focus the same as the bright center wavelength.

In the cloudy sky you can see the tube of light that surrounds the brighter center beam and without a lens flare hider a lot of wash and wings light up all around you.

It really stands out when you focus a single mode and a multi mode side by side at a longer distance.

Our multi modes give us cheap power but there is nothing like a clean solid rod of light. :beer:

Below I will put some pics of a poor mans way to extend the range of a cheap 532 HH, I just include these pics for anyone who wants to experiment to see, not to steal your thunder, your 4 lens expander has me drooling. :drool:
Your 2nd beam pic is fantastic, you can see it slightly taper over the long distance, very clean laser beam.

Yes You are right.
The Linos BE has another nice characteristic: his lens system pack all the unneeded wings, reflections and aberrations around the main spot, making a sort of delicate halo not visible because the main spot is very bright and do not permit to see anything around it.
The sensation is a dot very precise and very clean!
You can see the halo only hiding the main spot with an item with the same diameter. You can imagine a sort of Sun eclypse: a mass hide the planet, so it remain visible only the bright edges.

Thanks for sharing the info and pictures of what you have created. It is a great looking and working tool.

Yes...YES....JUST beautiful.....See....Optics can be our Friend !!! There are always trade-off's...some power loss....or some other aberration introduced into the beam....sometimes....like some wings sometimes !! But......

We as a group will evolve into more and more sophisticated optic usage....MMMmmmm ??? that is what my Crystal Ball shows !!! and !!!!!!!

Mind blown! This is awesome! That is one unique laser you have there mate great work. I never thought about being able to control the beam diameter before. Rep for you and well earned.

As always, superb work my friend, thank you for sharing, I always receive enjoyment reading about and seeing photo's of your projects. +rep when I can.

Stunning! Does anyone know by what factor this expands the beam by? Looks like it may be x10, and the divergence on the Hercules 600 is already <1.2 mRad on its own. <0.12 mRad would be insane!

Hi M,
Awesome you build some great beams .I don't know if i love you or hate you LOL!!
Keep up the great builds we like them a lot..

Rich

Super job of adapting the Linos BE--nothing like it available for held held lasers due to application and price constraints.

The Linos Variable Beam Expander is a great choice with the 2X - 8X countiuous adjustability. The best price I could find for a new one was $995 ---you were lucky to find a few on ebay !

Great beam images!

The beam magnification starts from 2x (min) to 8x (max).
But the special four lenses system of Linos BE permits to focusing at greater distances without a fat beam near the aperture. I do not know how it works, but the second ring focusing mechanism permit to control also the beam diameter! The result is really stunning, because I can minimize the divergence while keep a slim beam !! :bowdown::bowdown:

Amazing. Some serious engineering went into that.