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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Beam width

Joined
Jan 7, 2011
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New into lasers
Bought the following green lasers
5mw
20mw
200mw
All the very lo cost to get started
5 and 20mw have very tight beams 2 mm or so
The 200 mw beam is about 4-5 mm
All measured at exit port.
The 200mw is very bright during day for 300 yards or so forever at night.
How does the beam width relate to quality and is there a rating methode for lasers

Thanks All
Frank Goddard
Kenmore, WA
 





anselm

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Joined
Nov 22, 2010
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Beam width where it leaves the laser and beam divergence (how much it spreads out/dot grows with distance travelled)
are inversely proportional.
That means the thinner the beam is at the beginning, the more it will spread out
as it travels forward, which effectively reduces it's useful/visible range.

A beam that is larger in diameter will stay focused more tightly over a larger distance.

This, of course, assuming each beam is focused to as close to "infity" as possible. ;)
 




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