Burning range of a laser.

I know little of lasers, but have a potential application for one.
What are the burning ranges of common laser types (50mw, 100, 500)?
What type of laser would I need to light a match at, say, 100yd?
Does the color (or nm) of the laser matter relative to the heat of the laser?

Portable is a must, but this brings up another question. If i had the required laser, would i be able to focus it easily to light a match from far away? In all the videos I have found, they only light matches from less than a foot.

i dont even know or anything so you can disregard this post but heres a video were they light it from 300 feet away.. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=NDt44L4hnkQ but its not a portable laser and it uses like a massive telescope lol

Since i'm Aussie, I don't know the measurement of which you speak, but the most powerful handheld laser _currently_ avaliable, is a RPL from optotronics. Of course you can get one custom made for high power, but prepare for a very large $$$$$ sum!

You're not gonna be able to light a match from 100yards with a handheld unit. You need a tripod to stabilize it, decent power , probably over 500mW to make un for losses in the atmosphere and bad focusing at that distance, and a good beam expander with decent magnification.

Does the color (or nm) of the laser matter relative to the heat of the laser?

Click to expand...

The beam is made of light , and because light doesn't have temperature, the beam is not hot.The only heat we can talk about regarding a laser is from the ineficiency of converting electricity to laser light, and the heat generated by the material absorbing the beam.How much of the beam the material absorbs depends on the properties of the material and the wavelength of the laser(or colour).

It is possible to light a match from that distance. But:

You would need A LOT of power, and a really good beam expander, or a telescope, either way it will cost you a lot of $$$$$ . You have about 3 options for which laser to use.

A) Get an RPL 425 ( or similar portable ) and a beam expander. www.optotronics.com for the laser .

B) Get a herculese from www.laserglow.com and also a beam expander from there.

C) Get a lab style laser with a power of 500mW - 1W and a beam expander / telescope .

-Adam

And a tripod. :

Oh yeah I forgot that, my bad, a tripod is a must :

Well it seems like this isn't an efficient way to go about it. Thanks for the help though.

diachi said:

It is possible to light a match from that distance. But:

You would need A LOT of power, and a really good beam expander, or a telescope, either way it will cost you a lot of $$$$$ . You have about 3 options for which laser to use.

A) Get an RPL 425 ( or similar portable ) and a beam expander. Optotronics Laser Products for the laser .

B) Get a herculese from Laserglow Technologies - Handheld Lasers, Alignment Lasers and Lab / OEM Lasers and also a beam expander from there.

C) Get a lab style laser with a power of 500mW - 1W and a beam expander / telescope .

-Adam

Click to expand...

what kind of telescope would that be?

Dude this thread is over 2 years old. And I believe it was a beam expander. You can also use a telescope but the specs have to be right, and you may not get the power you want because of the coatings on the lenses. Beam expander make the beam large coming from the laser, and focuses down to a tight dot at distance.