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I was wondering exactly what amount of power is need to burn white objects, like paper, with a visible light or near IR-UV laser. None of my visible light lasers can do it, and neither can my YAG, despite the fact that it has roughly equivalent to 3 watts of power. Still it behaves pretty much (other than being pulsed) like a visible red laser, burning only dark colored things.
My CO2 can of course do it, but that's mainly because color isn't an issue at that mid-far IR wavelength. Everything (well, most everything) absorbs the beam.
But say you have a 532, a 473, or a 660nm laser of high power (running CW), what power would you have to have at minimum to torch something white? This is the point where the laser's power overcomes the reflectivity of the material (the reason why YAGs can cut and weld metal at very high power).
Perhaps the guy with the 4 watt argon can answer this? I don't know who else here has a visible laser of a few watts. How about multi-watt IR diodes? What power do you need to burn white stuff with those? Has anyone here done it?
My CO2 can of course do it, but that's mainly because color isn't an issue at that mid-far IR wavelength. Everything (well, most everything) absorbs the beam.
But say you have a 532, a 473, or a 660nm laser of high power (running CW), what power would you have to have at minimum to torch something white? This is the point where the laser's power overcomes the reflectivity of the material (the reason why YAGs can cut and weld metal at very high power).
Perhaps the guy with the 4 watt argon can answer this? I don't know who else here has a visible laser of a few watts. How about multi-watt IR diodes? What power do you need to burn white stuff with those? Has anyone here done it?