Laser through Toslink fiber optic

[Cyparagon]

So y'know those cables that carry audio data in the form of red light? The system goes by the names s/pdif, toslink, optical audio, and a few others and is available at your local electronics retailer for $10-40. Turns out they can kinda carry a laser beam. You either need a large lens with a short focal point, or a VERY large lens with a long focal point. It's a LOT worse out the other end, but a layman would still look at it and say "that looks like a laser beam to me."

100mW green in:

Raw output:

"collimated" with a magnifying glass:

"collimated" with a better lens:

Closeup:

profile:

I even got something of a focal point, but it's rather large at ~2mm

 

[f22warzone]

That’s actually pretty sweet that you were able to collimate it after the fiber.... the cheap fiber optic I have will not collimate after the fiber

 

[HaloBlu]

Fun pictures I have to say & pretty cool for just a toslink. How many mW is that going in?

 

[FireMyLaser]

Very nice pictures! You inspired me to connect one of those fibers to my RGV! Endless fun playing around with optics, will post pics!

 

[KiLLrB]

Very nice pics! :beer:

 

[Cyparagon]

That’s actually pretty sweet that you were able to collimate it after the fiber.... the cheap fiber optic I have will not collimate after the fiber

Sure it will. You just need to find the right lens and distance. I have quite a few lenses, and I only found three that work. These two, and the focusing lens from a sled. The problem with that one is that since the collimated beam diameter is so small, the divergence is very large - not much better than raw output.

You need a large lens (>15mm?) with a short focal length (<20mm?)to get anything decent.

 

[f22warzone]

I think the problem with mine is its just Fiber Optic Products, Inc. - unjacketedfiber and my ends are not cut clean

 

[FireMyLaser]

I collimated the "beam" with and aixiz module. Not much of a laser beam, but it's pretty cool! Before the beam enters the fiber it's focused with a small glass lens found in the GGW 6x sled to catch all of the light. If I put my finger on the other end it stings instantly.

Here's it shining on some of the optics found in the GGW 6x sled:

Finally a video:

 

[ossumguywill]

Awesome media!

 

[Vega]

Is there any possibility somone could create an adapter to screw in the data cable or something similar directly into the tip of our handhelds?and the collimator lens could be attached to the other end of the data cable.
Or even one of the clear fiber optics cables to use is as a laser/whip prop. for shows or TV?