Request: lasers color combinations experiment

[frosty1433]

Hi, I'm new to lasers and I really want to learn more about them. I don't own any lasers of my own (yet), or else I would try the following requests on my own.

I really want to see what would happened if two very carefully placed lasers were shined into a prism at what would be their normal exit points from a normal light. The goal would be to try to create a single newly colored beam.

Then I really want to see what happens when two different clearly visibly colored beams are crossed from a 90 degree angle. would it create a new color at the point of the intersection? Then, what would happen if we introduced a third color (making RGB) from 3d. sorry, I don't know all of the correct terms yet... what I'm trying to explain, is to set up RGB laser beams on the X,Y,Z axises so that they intersect.

My theory is that it would created a white pixel in the center. If that works, it may be possible to create true holographs without the need for a surface.

Lastly, as a bonus... I think it would be really cool to see what it would look like to shine red, blue, and green lasers into a diamond... and play with the positions to see what kind of cool effects we could get.

If anyone that reads this has the materials, time, and patients to try my little experiments out... It would be so cool to hear of your results, and possibly see some pictures and videos. And it would be even more cool to hear about the different findings from different types of lasers, with different wattages.

I've been searching all over the internet, and have failed miserably at finding pictures/videos of these types results. I assume they weren't special or phenomenal enough to post on the internet, which is a little frustrating, because I'm sure there are plenty of people like me wondering what would happen.

 

[anselm]

Hello and welcome to the forum!:wave:
I'll just drop this here:
White laser pointer - It can be done

 

[Flaminpyro]

Howdy and welcome to the forum :wave:
Have fun and be safe !

 

[Ash]

Hi, I'm new to lasers and I really want to learn more about them. I don't own any lasers of my own (yet), or else I would try the following requests on my own.

Welcome to LPF

I really want to see what would happened if two very carefully placed lasers were shined into a prism at what would be their normal exit points from a normal light. The goal would be to try to create a single newly colored beam.

Well. You can't use a prism to combine beams. You need a dichro

or a PBS

(polarised beam splitter) cube.

If you shine two different color lasers into a prism, the lasers will be the same color coming out of the prism, but the prism itself will be the resultant combined color:
Red + Green = Yellow
Red + Blue = Magenta
Green + Blue = Light Blue
Green + Red + Blue = White

If you create a white and pass it through a set of galvos and you have a control board (and lasers) that support TTL blanking, you can make really clean color mixes and rainbows.

Then I really want to see what happens when two different clearly visibly colored beams are crossed from a 90 degree angle. what I'm trying to explain, is to set up RGB laser beams on the X,Y,Z axises so that they intersect.

Yes this is possible. You get a white at the intersection.

Lastly, as a bonus... I think it would be really cool to see what it would look like to shine red, blue, and green lasers into a diamond... and play with the positions to see what kind of cool effects we could get.

If anyone that reads this has the materials, time, and patients to try my little experiments out... It would be so cool to hear of your results, and possibly see some pictures and videos.

Same thing as a prism, just many more beams of red, green and blue, and white within the diamond. This is a dangerous experiment to attempt without the proper safety glasses (full spectrum protection).

 

[frosty1433]

Thanks you very much Ash, that is exactly what I came here for. And thanks Flaminpyro and anselm for the welcome. Also thanks anselm for the very interesting read, I may attempt one of these in the near future.

Yes this is possible. You get a white at the intersection.

That's awesome, and it's exactly what I was hoping... I knew the intersecting colors were possible, but I'm unable to determine how visible/rich it could possibly be. With that said, do you think it would be possible with the help of galvos (new term I learned today) and intense programming, to create rich 3d hologram images without the need for a surface/smoke? (best and most common example is Star Wars)

That's the type of technology I'm looking to pursue here...

 

[Cyparagon]

Hey, that's my yellow spirograph! Colors can be combine with prisms as well.

No, projected lasers cannot be 3D as you think because there is nothing to stop the beam at a particular point in mid-air. You can ionize the air at a focal point of a pulsed laser, but the color will always be the same; it is very expensive; it is very dangerous; it is slow; it is inefficient. The best you can do is use fog.

 

[Ash]

Hey, that's my yellow spirograph! Colors can be combine with prisms as well.

Nice yellow spiro. Just found the pic through a search.
Hmm,... combining beams with a 3-sided prism? Everytime I try, it doesn't work. I have always needed to use a PBS or dichro to combine.

edit: Found a thread where you alredy posted about this:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f49/rgb-beam-combining-prism-45014.html
Sounds like it's possible but a large distance is needed and the losses would make it not worth the effort.

 

[Bionic-Badger]

You could try using many prisms to increase the amount of dispersion. You'll be losing light at each facet though.

 

[Cyparagon]

Or use a small bounce mirror.

 

[Bluefan]

Or a reflection grating. Those usually have 70-90% efficiency but a much larger dispersion than a prism. But they are pricey, so dichro's are the best option to combine laser beams.

 

[Cyparagon]

Would you care to draw A diagram? That makes NO sense to me The only way I can see it work is at ~10% efficiency and you'd need a few beam dumps.