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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Underwater (SCUBA) Lasers Revisited

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If the glass can handle the pressure from the water it should handle the laser without problem. He's not going to push more than 200mW through it, so it should not be an issue.
 





CCC

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Greetings,

I am a biologist working on Australia's Great Barrier Reef and the World Heritage Daintree Rainforest.

A lot of us use lasers in the forest to show very shy secretive critters and a few of us have weak laser pointers for underwater use.

Recently one friend showed me his powerful blue laser that was waterproof to way beyond recreational diving depth. It burns black plastic and hurts if applied to skin for more than 1 second.

Underwater though, it's still not perfect as the beam is not very tight and blue does not show up very well - particularly around blue coral !

I have spent hours online and found several "underwater laser pointers" including those sold specifically for scuba instructors. However they all seem to be low power (Class IIIa, <5mW) which does not seem to cut the mustard underwater.

I've read the forums here and there is quite a bit of dated chat about this topic but since my friend only got this powerful blue underwater laser recently, I thought a revisit would be nice.

So a summary:

Im looking for a laser pointer that is 100% waterproof.
Current online sellers do exist but power is standard Class IIIa
I know of at least one powerful (20mW ?) laser but it is BLUE.

Ideal: GREEN, scuba rated, ridiculous powerful.

Hope someone can help !

PS. Australia has banned imports of laser pointers. Totally. My friend got his by having it posted as a "pen".

These are ready to go down to 20 meters or 40 meters, depending on the model:

Beamshot Tactical GreenBeam Waterproof Laser Pointer FREE S&H GB50, GB100. Beamshot Laser Sights.

By the way, don't point the blue lasers at your skin. They can cause skin cancer. Most of the lasers discussed on this forum are too powerful to safely point at anything living. I understand your intended application is to just draw attention to the location of distant marine life without approaching them in a way that will cause them to flee from observation. Hopefully you can do that without pointing the lasers directly at the critters - perhaps on a spot of sand or reef next to them instead.

As a biologist, I assume you are aware that marine creatures' sensitivity to light can be much greater than for humans, even at shallow depths. The risk of blinding them and dooming them to a delayed death may be non-trivial, even when using light sources that would be harmless to humans.

If I remember correctly, some of the early dives to study creatures extracting energy from volcanic vents ended up blinding them all with their floodlights. The creatures were very sensitive to the tiny amount of light that a "black smoker" produces, and that's how they were able to congregate around the vents without losing track of their position. I don't know if it was even possible to record the details of the aftermath, but I would not be surprised if the death rate increased after the researchers left, just because the creatures could not maintain their position around the vents. Better safe than sorry.
 
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Did you notice that the last time this thread was active was way back in April of 2011?
 

CCC

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Yes I did, and it took until now for someone (me) to come along with the answer the original poster was looking for. Incidentally, I found this thread via Google while looking for an answer to the same question. Now that I've posted it, anyone else coming here will find what they wanted to know.
 

CCC

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Laser Pointers - Green, Red, Blue Lasers at Laserpointerpro.com (at the bottom)
Blue Light Hazard (near the middle)

More here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=blue+laser+cancer

Apparently it also kills cancer in addition to causing it, much like radiation and chemotherapy. It looks to me that there's nothing conclusive about it, and most sources seem to rely on Wicked Lasers. I don't think high power blue lasers have been widely available long enough to do any proper epidemiological studies about it.

But, if a sunburn can cause cancer, it would be foolish to assume that a high power laser wouldn't. In other words, it is - or should be - common sense. Pretty much any kind of irritant can cause tumor formation. It's sort of like cells rebelling when they're mistreated. Nobody has proven it, but if it makes logical sense, it's probably wise to let SOMEBODY ELSE prove it - I like my non-cancerous skin very much, and I'm sure you like yours too :)
 
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