Hey!
I just bought my first laser and I could use some help/tips!
I bought my laser on a market in Hong Kong for about 40 US$ (negotiating began at ~65 US$ so maybe I could've gotten it for even less).
It's a green laser that burns through thin black plastic (as demonstrated by the lady that sold it, and obviously never heard of laser safety in her enthusiasm to sell stuff..).
The 'danger' sticker says max output power <1000mW, wavelength 532nm ±10, Class III laser product. And it came with a removable diffraction cap.
On to the questions;
1. Would this really be a 1W laser? It says Class III, but I thought that was up to 500mW for visable light lasers and if this is 1000mW shouldn't it be class IV? (and putting a diffraction cap into a class VI laser seems like a bad idea, but maybe the Chinese are crazy like that).
2. What does the ±10 mean after the 532nm? seems like a large range to me. Does anyone know what actual material (chemical composition) is commonly used in 532nm?
3. I need good and affordable safety glasses! I looked around in this forum a bit and so far I think I like these: Eagle Pair® 190-540nm Standard Laser Safety Goggles (survivallaser.com) but they were all quite expensive (> 40 US$ ex. shipping). Can anyone recommend any shops that ship to Europe cheaply?
4. How do I know if this laser is IR filtered? And what harm does it do if it isn't? (what's the IR output power? is it due to second-harmonics or has it a different source?)
5. Can you tell me some nice tricks or fun things to do with my laser at home? (I'm a chemist and I use lasers a lot for spectroscopy, but aside from that I don't really know any applications. Are there some simple physics principles that I could demonstrate with it?)
I just bought my first laser and I could use some help/tips!
I bought my laser on a market in Hong Kong for about 40 US$ (negotiating began at ~65 US$ so maybe I could've gotten it for even less).
It's a green laser that burns through thin black plastic (as demonstrated by the lady that sold it, and obviously never heard of laser safety in her enthusiasm to sell stuff..).
The 'danger' sticker says max output power <1000mW, wavelength 532nm ±10, Class III laser product. And it came with a removable diffraction cap.
On to the questions;
1. Would this really be a 1W laser? It says Class III, but I thought that was up to 500mW for visable light lasers and if this is 1000mW shouldn't it be class IV? (and putting a diffraction cap into a class VI laser seems like a bad idea, but maybe the Chinese are crazy like that).
2. What does the ±10 mean after the 532nm? seems like a large range to me. Does anyone know what actual material (chemical composition) is commonly used in 532nm?
3. I need good and affordable safety glasses! I looked around in this forum a bit and so far I think I like these: Eagle Pair® 190-540nm Standard Laser Safety Goggles (survivallaser.com) but they were all quite expensive (> 40 US$ ex. shipping). Can anyone recommend any shops that ship to Europe cheaply?
4. How do I know if this laser is IR filtered? And what harm does it do if it isn't? (what's the IR output power? is it due to second-harmonics or has it a different source?)
5. Can you tell me some nice tricks or fun things to do with my laser at home? (I'm a chemist and I use lasers a lot for spectroscopy, but aside from that I don't really know any applications. Are there some simple physics principles that I could demonstrate with it?)
u5BRwtfGr,S!~~60_57.JPG)
