Making the beam LESS visible?

[kmac11]

Is it possible to make a beam less visible? During my school's pep rally I think it'd be quite fun to take my laser and pop all the balloons they have. However, it wouldn't be that great if there was a red beam coming straight from me.

 

[ElektroFreak]

You won't be able to make the beam less visible without losing the ability to pop balloons.. unless you can find some method of removing the impurities from a massive amount of air that is easily portable. Probably not going to happen..

 

[larrball]

Is it possible to make a beam less visible? During my school's pep rally I think it'd be quite fun to take my laser and pop all the balloons they have. However, it wouldn't be that great if there was a red beam coming straight from me.

In order to pop anything (other then someones eye, and blind them for life)
You would need a laser that would not be COOL to use around a bunch of students.

Bad ideal.

 

[RA_pierce]

I would NOT RECOMMEND this. Yes, it would be fun, but the confiscation of an expensive toy is not.
Personally, I do not use a laser in any area that is full of people.
Any attention is unwanted attention.
Kids will want to try it out and tell you to burn teachers or point it in someones eyes and you can end up in a LOT of trouble.
These things are not allowed in a school environment. Toting a high power laser in a public place is a bad idea.
The only lasers I use in public are my 808nm pens. They are easy to conceal and do not draw attention. It is completely inconspicuous and cool to show off (to limited amounts of people) at the same time- although, I would not recommend bringing one of these to school either.
High school kids and potentially hazardous "toys" do not mix.

Please use responsibly. For the sake of the hobby.

 

[GooeyGus]

Yes, put the entire room in a perfect vacuum

 

[lazerguy]

Perfect vacuum isn't possible

The only solution I can find is to use an IR laser, however it's still not a good solution. High power IR lasers costs a bit, and if money isnt the issue, then the divergence is. IR lasers tend to have high divergence, so you wont be able to pop a balloon further than a feet away.

I don't recommend to bring a laser to school either, you can get in so much different kind of trouble.

 

[Helioplasma]

Use a high powered "safe wavelenght" laser (>1600nm) that does not penetrate the cornea. Of course, the price would be an issue. And yes IR lasers have very bad collimating. And this type of laser doesn't exist in portable formats, because the demand for this is more in research and not for hobbyist.


Simply put, it won't work.

 

[GooeyGus]

Perfect vacuum isn't possible

It was a joke  

 

[seoguy]

Not impossible, I think!

What about near-UV? A violet laser is barely inside the visible range, a slightly shorter wavelength and it would not be!

Perhaps even the right Blu-Ray diode (as they vary somewhat in wavelength, some are less visible than others), perhaps on a TEC to shift the wavelength even further?

Of course, you could always just feed a YAG laser into a THG crystal tripler, and get a nice ~355nm UV beam!

But an invisible beam that is strong enough to cause damage is really not a good idea without safety goggles, particularly in the setting you are asking about!

 

[Things]

Your not going to shift the wavelength of a diode rated around 405nm enough to make it invisible. Your best bet would be an IR laser. If you get a lower powered IR laser in a 5.6mm can, you should be able to get pretty good collimation, its just the high power multimode diodes that have really bad divergence.

And yeah, it is a very bad idea, you can get into A LOT of trouble.