1 kW Laser

[HydroSean]

I was thinking of saving up for a 1 kW laser rifle much like the one styropyro built in his video once I get my student loan paid off. What I would do differently would be to use NUBM44s focused independently with a G-2 lens', then much like styropyros to collimate them into one with a large lens at the end. I think driving them and focusing them independently would create a much better beam spot but would also cause a great deal of heat. I think a noble design could fix that easily though. I think it would cost me around $20k to do this but it would be absolutely insane. Some of you may think I've lost my mind but wouldn't that be a sight man, like to see a kilowatt of laser energy in a beam the diameter of a hair in a handheld device :beer:

 

[Encap]

Not a good idea for a lot of reasons.

 

[HydroSean]

Not a good idea for a lot of reasons.

Well yeah I just found out that there probably isn't even enough NUBM44s to make this happen anyway

 

[diachi]

Not to mention it'd likely cost >$25,000. Better things to spend your money on. That's a 10% down payment on a decent house in many places. Or a nice vehicle bought outright.

 

[Encap]

Well yeah I just found out that there probably isn't even enough NUBM44s to make this happen anyway

Yes plus beams do not combine the way you think--you can combine 2 beams with a PBS cube-- Polarized beam splitters take two beams of opposite polarization and combines them together but not possible to combine 200 5W or 166 6W beams into a single "beam the diameter of a hair"

See : http://laserpointerforums.com/f51/reference-guide-how-combine-lasers-77449.html

Would be a very expensive $20k practical joke more than anything else--at best all you could do is focus all of the beams individually onto one focal point to get a combined power at that one point -so a stationary setup with all of focused on one point and only that point. - or hand held at the exact distance of the focal point away from the target like styro did

diachi is 100% right--the money would be much better spent on something of value in the real world.

 

[lasersbee]

Hey... you got 20K to blow.... Knock yourself out.
Don't forget to take pics..

Jerry

 

[Crazlaser]

That money could buy me a new sony camera.

 

[ElectricPlasma]

Sorry but damn lasers are the last thing I would drop 20k on. If you got that kinda cash to blow then go nuts lol. Maybe your idea isn't completely crazy though, I'm sure if you scaled it down a bit then you'd have a really cool laser project on your hands. :yh:

 

[Cyparagon]

The diode spacing alone would make this look nothing like a rifle.
The heat sinking and cooling material alone would make this look nothing like a rifle.
The power considerations alone would make this look nothing like a rifle.
Add these together, and you'd be lucky to get this working in a size smaller than a mini fridge.

 

[RB astro]

The diode spacing alone would make this look nothing like a rifle.
The heat sinking and cooling material alone would make this look nothing like a rifle.
The power considerations alone would make this look nothing like a rifle.
Add these together, and you'd be lucky to get this working in a size smaller than a mini fridge.

You gotta think outside the box.
Maybe if he plundered all the diodes out of DVD/BluRay burners, he can claim that he "rifled" them from surplus?

:undecided:

 

[Benm]

like to see a kilowatt of laser energy in a beam the diameter of a hair in a handheld device :beer:

This might actually pose a problem if you could achieve it.

If you get a kW of light and focus it down to a spot the width of a hair in free air, i think you'll reach the point of air breakdown. This basically causes sparks to appear in mid air.

I have seen this effect with pulsed lasers (1064 nm) and it looks quite spectacular, but i wonder what would happen if a continous laser was to cause this... perhaps a permanent arc discharging away somewhere around the focal point?