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- Mar 22, 2015
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well, id go for a 100mW green laser, that should do it. if your laser is purple or red, even 50mW wouldnt be enough to see the beam from the side becuase purple is too dim and red does not scatter in the air as much becuase it is a longer wavelength. if it is a 30mW red or purple (or even blue maybe) you wouldn't be able to see the beam, however if its a 30mW green you may experience the problem you describe, however i have never had a lower power laser so i wouldn't know.
here's the thing about the effect of the lasers wavelength other than color: the closer to 555nm during the day (funny that it happened to be that number, isnt it?) the brighter the dot will appear, becuase our eyes are most sensitive to that wavelength, and the wavelengths near it.
but for the beam, its complicated; the shorter the wavelength, the more the laser light is going to be interfered with by the atmosphere. the more it is interfered with by the atmosphere, the more energy is lost from the dot and scattered around, resulting in a more visible beam. but shorter wavelength does not necessarily mean brighter beam per milliwatt of output power, because brightness also depends on the wavelength, which is why a 100mW 532nm green laser will have a brighter beam than a 1W 405nm purple laser, even though the purple is a shorter wavelength (for the light scattering) and higher power (for visibility).
so, this means you must have a balance between short wavelength and highly eye sensitive wavelength. where is that balance? no clue... so just get a medium-high power green laser and it should work just fine.
hope this helped!
here's the thing about the effect of the lasers wavelength other than color: the closer to 555nm during the day (funny that it happened to be that number, isnt it?) the brighter the dot will appear, becuase our eyes are most sensitive to that wavelength, and the wavelengths near it.
but for the beam, its complicated; the shorter the wavelength, the more the laser light is going to be interfered with by the atmosphere. the more it is interfered with by the atmosphere, the more energy is lost from the dot and scattered around, resulting in a more visible beam. but shorter wavelength does not necessarily mean brighter beam per milliwatt of output power, because brightness also depends on the wavelength, which is why a 100mW 532nm green laser will have a brighter beam than a 1W 405nm purple laser, even though the purple is a shorter wavelength (for the light scattering) and higher power (for visibility).
so, this means you must have a balance between short wavelength and highly eye sensitive wavelength. where is that balance? no clue... so just get a medium-high power green laser and it should work just fine.
hope this helped!
