Top Theritical limit for a Pointer

[nooblaserfan]

Just Curious what would be the top Output for a pointer if you were able to carry a backpack with batteries a friend asked me this i could not really find a good answer. Would it be limited by or weight or cooling etc.? Just a fun question im a really new here I love learning new stuff im good with electronics and may try my own build. Forgive my newbiness Thx

 

[AUS]

Cooling would probably be the biggest thing.

It would be impractical to carry a portable gas laser of much size, you would need a high voltage power supply and cooling (probably water in the case of anything over about a watt). HeNe lasers don't come that powerful, high power CO2 tubes are over a metre long, and Argon needs huge amounts of power and water cooling in much over 100mW.

You can get coloured laser diodes up to about 3-5 watts and 40-60 watt infra red laser diodes, but again you would need water cooling and huge amounts of power.

There is a thread about just that here

 

[jeffreythe00]

^ actually not really. There was a Guy who made a portable co2 laser out of Plexiglas and we have another member who made a RF excited co2 starwars gun (hemlock_mike). And me and mariomaster did the math and a backpackable 40W co2 laser is possible. DC to AC inverter, 1 gallon jug of water, a bunch of 2.7V boostcaps in series. You might be able to get away with a 100W co2 tube but you'd need a REALLY good inverter.

Me and mariomaster never actually tried it because I sold my laser before we really had a chance.

It really comes down to where you get bottlenecked 1st. Weight limit, heat dissipation / cooling, power supply, laser availability. (Example: I haven't seen over 100W of co2 or diode laser on eBay. Though they exist)

 

[Cyparagon]

I bet you could use a COIL, although it would probably be 7-8 figures.

 

[Wolfman29]

Interesting. Had never heard of a COIL before. What makes you think it is scalable to be "handheld"?

 

[TheReddish]

well the getting the gasses to move super sonic may be an issue for a handheld.

 

[Wolfman29]

Not if you use a small jet engine =p

 

[AUS]

Yes it looks like you would need hyper velocity hydrogen peroxide, iodine and sodium hydroxide. Something tells me this would not be healthy in a skin-dissolving way if it leaked