cool stuff to do with laser pointers eg diffraction gratings

Hi all, can anyone suggest fun stuff to do with 150mM laser pointers ?

I hear alot about burning and balloon popping etc. Yes I can do this with my kit no sweat, but to be honest this isnt impressive to me. The first time is interesting, but I can burn equally well with a cigarette lighter etc. What I like is the ability to get a visible beam of light and the various optical possibilities. I did buy a diffraction gratings set from Dragon lasers. This is quality glass. This actually is fun, and generates some impressive results in the house. You can get literally thousands of spots projected onto the wall or floor. I am wondering what else is good to experiment with ?? Optotronics sell a prism kit or a 40-piece optics Kit containg an assortment of prisms, filters, mirrors and diffraction gratings. Can you do cool stuff with kit like this ??
Has anyone experimented with fluorescent materials eg excited by green laser ?

You can buy uranium marbles which are excited and glow, but this only happens with a blu-ray (405nm)

Have you got a fog machine? everything is 10X better with a fog machine lol

Yes, the Opto optics kit is an awesome collection of stuff. It helps tho, if you have methods of mounting/holding such items for setting up experiments.

As you said, burning and popping is fun once or twice. Optics (mirrors, prisms, etc.) provide many ways to have varied results and get a lot of cool effects. Those cracked uranium marbles do produce a beautiful glow.

Check my page here, where I've posted many such shots. Maybe give you some ideas..

I second the fog machine!!! You can usually find one reasonably cheaply and they are extremely effective. Shining a laser through a grating is even more interesting when you can see the path of every little beam generated. Fog brings life to spiros, laser tunnels, and other simple optical effects that can be generated with simple lenses, prisms, gratings, mirrors, either on mounts, or attached to little motors. A little fog lets even a weak laser look impressive. Look for any and all scrap that might contain optics (laser printers, photocopiers, projectors, dead cameras, dvd/cd sleds, etc.) and salvage the lenses, mirrors, etc. Optics always come in useful. If you must buy, surplusshed.com is a good place to look around. I have made several purchases there.
As mentioned, build or buy a bluray if fluorescence and phosphorescence interest you.

Good ideas folks ! Roosl, I like your web site. I totally get the point about mounting / holiding items. Have been grappling with that- eg how to affix a small glass grating to a slim laser pointer.
You show portable lasers held by small tripods that end with a clamp rather than the typical thing used to attach cameras. Just cant find these browsing the web. What are these called ?
Also I like your set up for holiding optical devices, looking like a make shift wooden stand with attached clamp.

Just incased you missed it:

FOG MACHINE

just making sure

Thanks ! Yep I got that. Beams from a grating in fog would be awesome. Seeing 1000 spots is great. 1000 beams would be someting else. Not sure I'd be popular at home getting a proper fog machine, may have to improvise eg dry ice. Just seen a link to a tripod clamp attachment from dealextreme- looks like a good idea for holding laser + possibly optical stuff eg gratings, prisms etc.

Let your imagination be your guide.

Cut crystal ware, faceted headlight buckets, fish racing (they chase after the dot)
foggy nights, snow storms, low clouds, road signs (wear goggles road signs are retro-reflective, meaning they send light back in the direction of the source, regardless of what angle the source is coming from, that is why the spot is so bright on road signs.)

and by all means, if you are outside pointing at various things, make sure there is no one around to get bad ideas.

If you want fluorescence, look around you house for translucent orange plastic or rubber. I found a few promotional pens that had clear orange grips, and they light up a brilliant orange when hit with green