Concert laser shows: How powerful are these lasers now and then?

Hi...

I just joined up today, but I've visited this forum many times in the last year or so. But I am very new to lasers, so I thought I'd do some reading and learn at least a little before joining up.

I also read the rules and suggestions for noobs.

Having read the suggestions of what types of questions NOT to ask before searching for the answer (because they've been asked a million times already), I have a pretty good idea of the general etiquette, therefore, here's my 1st questions:

Which red laser is coolest?
Which green laser would you recommend for under $100?
Is it cool to point lasers at other people?

^^Ok, I'm just messing around there!^^

Having looked at a few Laser dealers' webpages, I've seen that there is a very wide range of prices for what often look to be the same basic laser, but at one site(O-Like) they use the word "Cute" a lot. Being new to the hobby, and realizing that different hobbies each have their own distinct slang terms, I thought that maybe the word "cute" was a term that was used by the laser community to describe a really hot, awesome laser.

But when reading threads here, I didnt see too many people saying things like: "I was checking out my buddy's new 1w blue laser, and man was that thing cute!" Or, "My new green laser is cute powerful!"

So I guess it's just O-Like that overuses the term cute.:crackup:

Anyway, I was wondering about lasers that you see used at concerts. It was probably the early 90's or so when I first saw a laser light show at a concert, and they were pointing them all around, including out into the audience. But at that time, most people(myself included) didnt know much about potential eye damage from civilian lasers, plus personal laser pointers over a few mW probably didnt exist yet, or cost way too much, so almost nobody had them.

So were these old lasers at concerts similar to today's lasers, or were they just concentrated, weak light beams with no significant power or danger? What about newer concert style lasers for light shows? Whats the deal with them?

Hope that question isnt too basic, if so, bare with me as I am new to this stuff.

Anyway, thanks and this seems like a good site with knowledgeable people.

They do have guidelines for laser shows these days. Though some lasers are more powerful, the amount of time they are flashed into peoples' eyes is less, meaning the danger for damage is also lessened. There are guidelines regarding the MPE (Maximum Permissible Exposure) so that there aren't many injuries.The lasers used are also diffracted, and the viewer is farther away from the laser.

Also, some are programmed to dim or completely cut off the laser when they're aimed towards the audience.

lasers for shows are comonly between 1 and 20 watts
and the real deal are KTP and OPSL lasers ranging from 20 to 100 watts

for scanning in the crowd there are certain safety features for example:
1. beam attentunation mapping
with this you can set the power to certain zones in percentages so for example the crowd has 10% power so that it meets the MPE rules.
2. lasers diverge so the further the laser beam goes the bigger the point gets.
at a certain distance you can safely scan into the crowd without causing eye damage.
3. pangolin recently got diverging lenses that you put in front of a projector to increase the divergence in the lower area's (crowd area) so the distance to safely crowd scan is much less