silver laser

[gbp007]

I dont know if this has been posted but is it possible to make a silver or gray laser ?

 

[yew.sir-name]

from what i understand the answer is no

 

[gbp007]

Why would that be ? Im sure the grey color beam would be very visible at night and really look nice..Wouldnt it be easier to see than red ?

 

[stevetexas]

very good question that I can't answer in technical terms.  I've never seen one and if it existed would probably be pretty expensive.  

also, most people like all the "pretty" colors and gray doesn't really fit the mold there

for one to be made, you have to come up with an industrial application where other cheaper lasers can't fill the niche.  only then will such diodes be mass produced, and somewhat affordable  (with very rare exceptions)

 

[mathyou9]

AFAIK, when it comes to additive colors, gray is merely low-intensity white (i.e., equal parts [more or less] of red, green and blue; e.g., just look at the gray bits on your monitor) You'd need an RGB unit that could produce a low enough intensity to appear gray.

 

[Tallaxo]

Grey is indeed low intensity white, it is merely an illusion of contrast, take 2 white paper cups, one a bleached white and the other a standard white and place them next to each other. The non bleached cup will now appear grey next to its bleached counterpart.

Jase

 

[r8nd0m]

I don't think its possible to make a silver laser, and a gray laser seems just as hard (if not impossible). When it comes to light, what is the difference between gray and silver? Silver is supposed to be shiny, but since it is light it's shininess won't matter, right?

 

[Justin]

You are confusing perceived surface textures as colour. There is no COLOUR called "silver". Silver is grey, and grey is just a dim white. These are "shades", not colours. For example, you cannot define "silver" with a wavelength, hex colour code or Pantone colour. It doesn't exist, since "silver" is just grey with some kind of reflectivity.

A useful example is to think of a mirror... Most people (perceptually) consider mirrors to be silver in colour, but really, the mirror just reflects its environment. A mirror in a red room looks red, but your brain has extra layers of interpretation beyond simply perceiving a 2D image (like a bitmap) and you consciously interpret the mirror as being a "silver" object which is reflecting the red room. This is more a question about perceptive vision and interpretation than really a question of colours.

If I recall correctly, the June issue of Scientific American had a neat article about vision and neurology that explains some of this.

 

[Frosty]

You are confusing perceived surface textures as colour. There is no COLOUR called "silver". Silver is grey, and grey is just a dim white. These are "shades", not colours. For example, you cannot define "silver" with a wavelength, hex colour code or Pantone colour. It doesn't exist, since "silver" is just grey with some kind of reflectivity.

A useful example is to think of a mirror... Most people (perceptually) consider mirrors to be silver in colour, but really, the mirror just reflects its environment. A mirror in a red room looks red, but your brain has extra layers of interpretation beyond simply perceiving a 2D image (like a bitmap) and you consciously interpret the mirror as being a "silver" object which is reflecting the red room. This is more a question about perceptive vision and interpretation than really a question of colours.

If I recall correctly, the June issue of Scientific American had a neat article about vision and neurology that explains some of this.

Wow nice post!

So basicly we can only expect lasers in colors which occur naturally int he color spectrum? Red Green Blue, etc..

 

[Justin]

Yes. Lasers make photons and the "colour" of a photon is its wavelength. Unless you can express a colour as a pure wavelength, you can't make it with a laser.