New review: Wicked Lasers PhosForce Laser-To-Flashlight Converter

The PhosForce Laser-To-Flashlight Converter is a nifty little gadget that screws onto the end of your S3 Spyder Arctic G2 445nm Blue Laser (any vintage) that turns your roaring monster into a meek little white flashlight.

It uses the same technology as is used in headlights on newer BMW and Mercedes Benz cars -- that is, a high-powered blue laser (your Arctic in this case) is sent through a diffractive optic (so that it doesn't simply burn a hole through the phosphor cap) and is directed toward a phosphor cap specifically designed to absorb the incoming blue laser radiation and convert it to yellow-green; when combined with what little blue laser radiation that escapes (***NOT COLLIMATED*** and does not represent an eye hazard!!!) and placed near the bottom of a mirror-smooth reflector, gives you get a very reasonable (actually, quite nice) approximation of neutral white {not bluish white but not warm white either}.


SIZE


To use your spiffy new PhosForce, unscrew & remove the current optic or lens from your Arctic, and screw the PhosForce on...yes, it's really that easy.

The web page about the PhosForce on the Wicked Lasers website indicates that the PhosForce produces 500 lumens of light.
Horse puckey! Horse puckey!! HOOOOORRRSSSSSSE PUUCCKYYYYYYYYY!!!


TEST NOTES:
Test unit was sent by Jeice of Wicked Lasers on 05-06-13 (or "2013 06 May" if you prefer), and was received on 05-16-13 (or "2013 16 May" if you prefer).

Although the concept is brilliant, this is absolutely the worst product to ever have come from Wicked Lasers.
Knowing this, I'll still be keeping the PhosForce in my arsenal of products that get used frequently because the actual light quality is simply fantastic!

UPDATE: 05-19-13
From a person who's work in photonics I implicitly trust, comes the following (no changes to syntax or grammar were made):

"I think that 500 lumen figure is the amount of light leaving the phosphor cap when it is irradiated by the maximum amount of light that the relevant laser series can produce. I think that is 2 watts.

If the laser beam is an 800 mW one, then only 200 lumens leaves the phosphor cap.

A majority of that 200 lumens probably goes rearwards, back to the laser. There are 2 fixes:

The lesser fix is painting white all forward surfaces of the laser and any non-phosphor rear surfaces of the converter. Use the brightest white
paint available at a paint store or home center. The rearward light will mostly bounce around, and some of it will go out through the phosphor cap.

The greater fix is to have a dichroic filter before the phosphor cap. The filter would pass blue laser light, and reflect the yellowish emission
of the phosphor cap."

In light of this, I've decided to increase the product's rating quite significantly.


UPDATE: 05-20-13
There does indeed appear to be a dichroic filter already in place, as the following photograph demonstrates:



This photograph was taken with the Arctic (440nm) laser beaming into the output-end of the PhosForce; instead of a blazing white light, a somewhat feeble blue light is transmitted -- feeble enough that it didn't overload the camera's CCD imager even when the camera was virtually head-on and an unfiltered laser beam would destroy it.


PROS:
Nifty "widget" that turns your dangerous laser into a harmless flashlight
Rather unique; uses relatively new technology
Durable metal case
Light it produces is a nice white color
Beam is smooth, with no rings, splotches, or other little evil little things (artifacts) in it


NEUTRAL:


CONS:
Ad copy is misleading -- unit does ***NOT*** produce 500 lumens when used with an older Arctic -- not no way, not no how!
Not efficient (as the web page indicates)



MANUFACTURER: Wicked Lasers
PRODUCT TYPE: Phosphor-based conversion to white flashlight for the Arctric laser
LAMP TYPE: N/A
No. OF LAMPS: N/A
BEAM TYPE: Medium spot w/soft corona
SWITCH TYPE: N/A
CASE MATERIAL: Hard-anodized aluminum
BEZEL: Metal; phosphor cap & refector protected by glass window
BATTERY: N/A
CURRENT CONSUMPTION: N/A
WATER-RESISTANT: Yes
SUBMERSIBLE: ¡¡¡PARA LOS MOTIVOS NO DE CRISTO!!!

ACCESSORIES: Hard-sided storage box
SIZE: 41mm L (incl. threads) x 35mm Dia.
WEIGHT: 56.1g (1.980 oz.)
COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE: China
WARRANTY: 1 year (plus a 30-day money back guarantee)

PRODUCT RATING:




Update 05-18-13: Added a photograph showing how the diffraction grating 'tames' the laser beam before it burns a hole in the phosphor cap.

Update 05-19-13: Added some text from a photonics expert re: the 500 lumens value; upgraded the 'star' rating as a result.

Update 05-20-13: Added photograph evidence of the presence of a dichroic filter in this product.

Update 05-24-13: Performed spectroscopy of the PhosForce when white light was shone into it from the "wrong" end to show the prescence of a dichroic filter.

Update 12-21-13: Performed intensity measurements using my newest Arctic (Po= 2,500+mW) and added a new beam terminus photograph.

Yuck... that 1st pic with the o-ring half hanging out.

Thanks for sharing your findings.

Nice to see a legitimate review of this thing, and not just and advertising puff piece.

Good review, very thorough.

Proves what everyone has been saying about this thing, basically every advertising claim is BS.

I just replaced the first photograph, because it was very likely my fault that the O-ring was showing where it did not belong. :-/

(Edit, several minutes later): Placed the original product photo back along with an appropriate caption.

Ok, so your arctic put's out 800mW..

Do you think more Mw's that the newer arctics have like mine does 1450mW produce more lumens ?
*Any way you can test this ?

How and what were your findings on using the phosforce on low mode with your arctic.

Nice review

Cheers, Sm.

Very good review, thanks. It would be interesting to see if applied to a green laser what would the results be in terms of final color.

norbyx said:

Very good review, thanks. It would be interesting to see if applied to a green laser what would the results be in terms of final color.

Click to expand...

I attempted that already with my Krypton, and no fluorescence at all was detected with the unaided eye; I simply got a dull green output.

Smeerworst said:

Ok, so your arctic put's out 800mW..

Do you think more Mw's that the newer arctics have like mine does 1450mW produce more lumens ?
*Any way you can test this ?

How and what were your findings on using the phosforce on low mode with your arctic.

Nice review

Cheers, Sm.

Click to expand...

Good afternoon Smeeroorst,

You'll definitely get a brighter output, but I just don't see 500 lumens.

However, since I do not own or have access to an integrating sphere (the rather expen$ive {$20,000.00+} test instrument used to determine light output in 'lumens'), I cannot say this with absolute, positive, 100% certainty. However, I'm still very sure.

The PhosForce in "low" mode is an absolute travesty: it outputs a truly pitiful 41,200mcd -- much less than some single-AAA cell flashlights (such as the Arc AAA).

do you have a higher power 445nm laser that you can use to excited the phosphorous to yield a high lumen output?

Fiddy said:

do you have a higher power 445nm laser that you can use to excited the phosphorous to yield a high lumen output?

Click to expand...

Nope, the Arctic is the most powerful ~440 to ~450nm laser I own. :-/

Put it in front of a violet laser!
Also try other blue wavelengths (if you've got them).

Fiddy said:

do you have a higher power 445nm laser that you can use to excited the phosphorous to yield a high lumen output?

Click to expand...

If that doesn't ruin it, it'll certainly lower the expected life. But if it's garbage to begin with, why not?

Cyparagon said:

Put it in front of a violet laser!
Also try other blue wavelengths (if you've got them).

Click to expand...

I tried 413nm, 473nm, and 488nm...I got shitty results with all three.
Apparently, the phosphor is formulated to be at its best with wavelengths of 440nm to 450nm.

I did however, see exactly how that diffraction grating "tames the beast" before it hits the phosphor...it breaks the beam into two rows of three spots plus some secondary and tertiary spots. I was able to see this with my 488nm laser; the phosphor conversion efficiency at that wavelength is low enough (it is at the longer limit of the phosphor's acceptance band) that I could see the pattern projected onto the phosphor cap.

The_LED_Museum said:

I tried 413nm, 473nm, and 488nm...I got shitty results with all three.

Click to expand...

Hereby requesting photos anyway.

Cyparagon said:

Hereby requesting photos anyway.

Click to expand...

The only photograph I can furnish is one of how the PhosForce's diffraction grating 'tames' the laser beam so that it does not burn a hole through the phosphor cap.

To wit:


Photograph showing how the diffraction grating splits the laser beam into multiple spots before it reaches the phosphor cap so as to prevent it from burning through the phosphor cap.
My Novalux Laser 2000 Protera Model 488-15 Blue-Green Laser was used here to obtain the photograph because its wavelength lies at the longer end of the phosphor's acceptance band and therefore does not seriously overload the camera's imager.

I would like to see the grating removed and laser focused to a point at the phosphor, on lowest output setting. Still might damage it, though :undecided:

Glad to see it has a grating, though. One more thing that needs to fail before flashlight turns into blinding laserbeam again ;-)

awesome flashlights, looks great from the pics, but i think it is a little longer to handle.