What if... Super Laser Specs?

What if you had a nigh unlimited budget. You could buy whatever parts you could legally acquire, but you had the following parameters:

the device had to be as small as you could possibly make it, preferably smaller than a poster tube and lighter than a sledge hammer.

the device uses a diode of some part of the spectrum, preferably visible, but it can be orange, blue, green, red or whatever.

The goals are highest clarity, highest range, smallest dot, highest power, and most effective burn.

What's possible with today's technology?

I present this thought experiment because it could act as a showcase for top of the line components and benchmarks. I apologize in advance if a thread like this already exists, but I'm pretty sure most benchmarks were for lasers smaller than a baseball bat, or otherwise included argon/C02 table lasers. I'm asking what's actually possible, even if it can only be kept on for a couple of seconds before needing to be cooled down.

I'm also not just looking for the top performance diodes, I'm also curious as to what other components could power something like that. As a special note, if the part requires special permission from a Contractor, Military Clearance, etc., then it doesn't count.

So far the highest diode I've seen was 45 watts from Japan. I'm sure that number is either horribly broken or woefully less that the current top.

I think that in theory, you could take a really high powered IR (not visible unfortunately) diode bar (100W+), a bunch of complicated corrective optics, a bunch of Lipo cells, and create something fairly terrifying.

A poster tube is actually quite a bit of space to build that in, and a sledge hammer is a fairly hefty amount of weight (BTW, strange metrics you chose for your size/weight parameters)

There are some single Lipo packs with 2,000 mAh capacity, and true 100C ratings. You'd be able to supply the required amperage, and you'd need some crazy driver circuitry.

All in all, it would be an obnoxious and tedious build, but I see no reason why you couldn't eventually tame the horrible output of a 100W IR diode bar into a decent beam.

I see absolutely no practical or safe use for such a creation.

I think it would be sweet to get three of those white fusion kits and knife edge them all together.

With unlimited budget you could easily make each one produce a white beam over 1W. Put hem all together and you have a 3W white laser.

Throw in some electronics and you could make any wavelength you want around 1W or more.

practical is completely out of the question - I mean the only plus we've secured so far is the ability to burn "white", but with something like 3W white knife edges, I think safety isn't going to be much different from any other class 4. For useful burning specs, here's some benchmarks to think about:

1 Watt - will cut paper like a magnifying glass
150 watts - 0.09/0.075" mild and stainless steel
400 watts - 0.125 stainless steel and 0.05" aluminum
1500 watts - CO2 laser
3000 watts - 1.0" stainless steel

The unusual size maximum I've chosen is loosely based on a monstrous super sized laser pointer, rather than one of those art deco boxy table types. The power has to be independent - if your laser has to be plugged in while firing, no cookie for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxQagE62_zI
old 80s cartoon about cops. Skip to seconds 50-62

Basically your max size is a laser "bazooka"/Cannon. I figured the hypothetical prototype could be periodically updated as we find more parts to make it work.

"art deco boxy table types"
= Strangest name for a labby yet

I remember that C.O.Ps show it was pretty sweet...
The more important question is how long till our lasers can make that pew pew noise they always make on TV?

Uhm, let me see ..... a good 200W folded-cavity CO2 laser tube (with a half watt red pointer as sighting unit ) mounted in a shoulder-carried bazooka-style case with a 10X expander, with batteries and cooling unit in a backpack, and .....

er ..... no, wait, you said small and light ..... nevermind .....

Guyfromhe said:

.....
The more important question is how long till our lasers can make that pew pew noise they always make on TV?

Click to expand...

The "pew pew" noise is the last of the problems ..... just get one of those annoying toy-guns with a bunch of sounds, and the problem is solved :crackup:

Ya want that in a newwish host, or would a Coleman cr2 do?

MASER, or perhaps, an X-ray Laser? Could be done, but you would need to hire one hairy dude to tote the PS for ya...

Not portable but I would buy a modified laserscope. More green than I would know what to do with.

At my university they got some special laser diodes custom made. I forgot the price, I think it was 150 thousand euro for 16 of these laser diodes:
Optics InfoBase - One-Watt level mid-IR output, singly resonant, continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator pumped by a monolithic diode laser
Bring a big enough bag of money, and you can get nearly everything.

Where can I get one of those so I can trade it in for a big bag o' money ?

-Sorry for getting off topic.

ShortyInCanada said:

Where can I get one of those so I can trade it in for a big bag o' money ?

-Sorry for getting off topic.

Click to expand...

actually I think you are right no topic. The purpose of this thread is to push the limits of "portable, self contained' lasers, especially diodes. Which reminds me, if a backpack is required to power the thing, while it is technically portable, I'm not sure it really qualifies as being smaller than a poster tube.

As for light weight, I think I set the cap weight to 'sledge hammer'. I've seen some pretty heavy hammers.

jnhowett said:

I think it would be sweet to get three of those white fusion kits and knife edge them all together.

Click to expand...

Usually when you knife edge you use four beams, so that you get a nice :: square beam. Three would end up like this .: which doesn't give a nice round beam

Instead of knife edging 3 white fusion kits why not just skip the white fusion completely and just build a several watt RGB? Knife edging three white fusions is like taping three bb guns together to get more firepower.