Afterglow from 532 laser?

[Nordhavn]

Anyone observed intense afterglow in NON GITD stuff with a decent amount (100mw+) of 532? I have some fluorescent liquor glasses (they're fluorescent orange and definitely do NOT GITD at all) that light up bright orange/yellow when irradiated with my RPL and after a few seconds the dot persists as yellow (after the laser is extinguished). The fade out is much faster than a standard GITD item irradiated with a BRL, for example.

I have a USCG emergency whistle that's bright orange plastic that does the same thing. If the laser (>300mw) is left on it for more than a few seconds it will start to ablate the plastic however when extinguished a yellow dot is seen where it was shining. A quick blast is not enough to cause visible (to eyes) afterglow.

I know that a LOT of common items will show some afterglow after getting hit with a large flashgun (xenon flashtubes) but this is definitely different as it persists for a few seconds. Any thoughts?

Cheers!

 

[Razako]

This might be what you are talking about?
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqnR98jxq4c[/media]

 

[Nordhavn]

Nope that's not it. Or the video does not show it.

 

[Benm]

I guess the phenomenon is not that unusual really, but its hardly ever bright enough to observe.

There is really not much difference between just fluorescent and glow-in-the-dark. Fluorescent dyes require some time to convert a shorter wavelength into a longer one, which depends on the exact die. This can be sub-microsecond, but also miliseconds or more - GITD stuff is made so that the half-life is at least several seconds. If the process is slow enough and you hit it with enough power, you should be able to see some fading light just as you turn of the laser.

It's normal that this takes some 'charge time' as well, it will take some time to get all of the dye excited, you need to expose it for serveral times the afterglow time to get optimal results.

 

[BlueFusion]

You're simply seeing persisting fluorescence. It IS the same as glow in the dark stuff, just that this stuff does it accidentally and GITD dyes are made to do it for much longer.