A million dollar idea

Take a standard green laser sight and modify it to produce a wider, cone shapped beam, maybe making a 2' foot diameter spot at 20' feet (output wattage may need to be increased). Then, add a small timing circuit so it pulses the light at 10 to 15 cycles per second.

Now, instead of just a lasersight, you have a laser dazzler attached to your pistol.
The benefits are:

• Once the person is "illuminated", even at close range, they are effectively blind to your location. If they are armed, it will be impossible for them to acquire any sight picture on you.

• Once illuminated, they are put on notice that a gun is aimed at them. If they don't stand down, they will be fired upon.

• The gun/laser dazzler combo gives the police a final, less than lethal weapon, option before the need for deadly force.

• While, unlike a taser, pepper spray or baton,  it allows the officer to have his pistol drawn, aimed and ready, if deadly force is required.

• A standard red lasersight could be incorporated into the device, to retain a small laser aiming dot, that could be used, even while the green dazzler is in use.

Here's a video of a laser dazzler being used by troops in Afghanistan:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD_ciCZJ7q0[/media]

ooh, get a provisional patent? That's a neat idea, despite the fact that it'd be less than ideal in the daytime... so combine that with a 12 Gauge with a Taser Xrep and some law enforcement buckshot... and you've got a winner. xD

That really is a neat idea, though.

Doesn't wickedlasers already sell these? I think its called the photonic something if i remember correctly...

I thought about something like this, but it seems like it would be too easy to abuse. Plus I think there is already something like this implemented.

The "Photon Disruptor" I believe ... Saw a similar design being shown on "Futureweapons"...

Why couldn't this be done with a strobe light? Even a 300mW green laser emits less than 300 lumens - power density isn't anywhere near what a flashlight could be.

I can't make anything of the video :-/ It looks like they're signaling vehicles to get out of their way, and at some point they say that it helped avoid a collision, though I don't see why they couldn't use headlights or something for that.A laser dazzler sounds like a great way to produce a collision not to avoid it.

Yeah... it didn't look like a Dazzler to me either... The beam was a little too
small in diameter to be aimed easily for dazzling..
The video states that they were running with their headlights off... and the
Laser looked like a warning system to gain right of way...
BTW.. it looks like that laser was only flashing 3-5 times a second.. :-/

Jerry

Cyparagon said:

Why couldn't this be done with a strobe light? Even a 300mW green laser emits less than 300 lumens - power density isn't anywhere near what a flashlight could be.

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The laser is more directional. While you still would want a wider cone than a normal laser dot, you'd still only want to project the light at a specific target (most pistol confrontations take place between 5 and 20 feet). Also, I belive you get a better power to output ratio with a diode.

But you are correct, a strobe can work the same way. They even had "Strobe Tanks" in world war two, specifically made to do this kind of thing.
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/05/wwii-strobe-t-1.html
"It was the flickering aspect that made the CDL special. The makers found that when it was employed, it was impossible to locate the vehicle accurately. In one test, a CDL-equipped vehicle was driven towards a 25-pound anti-tank gun. Even as it closed from 2000 yards to 500 yards, the gunners (firing practice rounds, one assumes) were unable to hit the tank. When asked to draw the route taken by the CDL tank, the observers drew a straight line, while in fact the tank had been crossing the range from side to side."

iewed said:

I thought about something like this, but it seems like it would be too easy to abuse. Plus I think there is already something like this implemented.

Click to expand...

Well, if a police officer is going to be abusive, I'd rather it be with a Dazzler than his pistol or Taser or Pepper spray or baton or nunchucks or....

Yes, there are some hand held "Dazzler" and "Photonic Disruptor" units out there, but I can't find any that incorporate it into a simple "bolt on" lasersight type form factor. -Which is surprising since everthing I described could be cobbled together with off the shelf hardware. -I'd make one myself, except I'm already making something "special" with my one greenie right now. I hope to post my build in the next week or so.

Switch said:

I can't make anything of the video :-/ It looks like they're signaling vehicles to get out of their way, and at some point they say that it helped avoid a collision, though I don't see why they couldn't use headlights or something for that.A laser dazzler sounds like a great way to produce a collision not to avoid it.

Click to expand...

I agree, it's not a very good video to illustrate my particular point, but it's the ONLY video I could find of a dazzler/photonic disruptor in actual use. Which is kind of weird -there should be more videos out there of these kind of things in use. There's like a bizillion Taser videos out there...

SuicideKing said:

I agree, it's not a very good video to illustrate my particular point, but it's the ONLY video I could find of a dazzler/photonic disruptor in actual use. Which is kind of weird -there should be more videos out there of these kind of things in use. There's like a bizillion Taser videos out there...

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I had been poking around for a while now looking for more videos of that handheld unit you found a video of. I have found a couple links to places that sold it (varying from 3k to 9k) :O

but I havent seen a hobby or DIY version anywhere even though it seems all the technology is 'off the shelf'

20hz is like smack dab in the middle of epileptic seizure range ;D

Not only will you dazzle them, you may knock them unconscious

GooeyGus said:

20hz is like smack dab in the middle of epileptic seizure range  ;D

Not only will you dazzle them, you may knock them unconscious  

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I got my numbers from this publication, but I'm open to another frequency if something supports it.
http://www.birket.com/strobes/Library/Strobes v Epilepsy, rev070704.htm
"About one in 4000 individuals has photosensitive epilepsy. Repetitive flashing lights may induce seizures in these individuals. The flash frequency of concern is from 5 Hz to 70 Hz, with most individuals only susceptible in the range of 15 Hz to 20 Hz."

Also, check this out from the same publication:
"The probability of inducing a seizure is greatly increased (by up to a factor of ten) if the light source is arranged in a regular pattern, such as a raster scan image. (This would be far more difficult to accomplish with the DMX Multi-Strobe Brik than with say, a television image.) Stated another way, avoid adding spatial contrast (pattern) to temporal contrast (flickering)."

Basically, this is saying you get more impact if the strobocopic effect is done with a pattern, instead of a general light source.
So...I'll stick a diffraction grating on the front of the laser for good measure.