UV questions

[tatman]

IR is fun. does anyone know what a UV laser might be used for? will they burn? what power level would it take to burn? how would it's performance compare to green...IR?

 

[SenKat]

A milliwatt is a milliwatt !!! The UV would be just as dangerous as IR - actually, I believe MORE dangerous - as I think UV can actually spark genetic changes (read that somewhere) when it hits...I would imagine it would have to be VERY severe for that to happen, but still.....

 

[pseudonomen137]

Yeah, UV is what we wear sunblock and such for. A UV laser is just all the bad stuff from the sun in a nice concentrated laser beam, so you don't really want to be working with it if you don't have to. UV lasers are also very expensive compared to cheap IR diodes, so I don't see much of a reason for any of us to be working with it. There are many legit scientific and other uses for UV lasers though (a major one being photolithography), and of course we cant forget Blu-Ray and HD-DVD tech.

 

[stevetexas]

You're right Senkat - UV penetrates deeper into the skin due to its short wavelength and can irreversibly dammage DNA. A burn from IR is just a burn. A burn from UV can lead to a whole lot more (cancer) - concentrating a beam of UV seems like a very bad idea for recreational purposes.

 

[tatman]

WOW! sure it's dangerous...so was black powder when i was 6 and 7. but i made it, and now i find out that, if i wanted, i could make my own mutations? too much! ya just gotta embrace this kinda fun while ya can- because as soon as they figger out it's too much fun they'll make a law against it. just look what they did w/ machine guns. in the 20s and 30s ANYBODY could own/shoot em. NOW...good luck-it's too much fun...ya can't do it!

 

[Justin]

The cost is usually prohibitive enough to keep the general public from messing around with UV lasers, but Laserglow does carry them and they are mostly used by scientists for neat fluorescence experiments. If you have a couple of briefcases full of money to unload, by all means give it a try. But really, you could end up giving yourself cancer. It's like playing with a microwave oven: fun... maybe, safe... no.

 

[tatman]

funny u mention micro-waves, Justin. long ago one of my projects was trying to make a cup of coffee from across the room...with a broke micro-wave oven. i wanted to eventually reduce the size till i had a "micro-wave pistol" . i was able to boil water from about 3 feet before i realized the level of danger...i was 14 or 15 yrs. old. still may pick that one back up.

 

[marianne]

it *would* be fun to see how a UV laser would make things glow (i'm assuming they'd work a lot like a concentrated version of those "blacklights"), but...high powered cancer beam (genuine deathray!) just scares me off too much, i'll stick with nice, safe, class IIIb visibles, worst i can do is burn or blind myself

 

[Aseras]

If you are lucky you can find old excimer lasers, Most of those will do UV and they are insanely powerful, 12watts+ I've seen them @ a grand as a pull.


For a simple UV laser, you can make a nitrogen laser. it's fairly easy, http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasercn2.htm

 

[Justin]

If you want to see some neat flourescence without using a cancer ray, try shining one of your standard green lasers at a pink highlighter! The pink kind produces a very cool yellow glow, and if you have one of the ones where the body of the highlighter is also pink plastic it will light up the whole thing yellow!

 

[scopeguy20]

I am hoping for a 266 nm in a portable , battery power type, the output power I need at least 5 mw better yet 15 mw. All The best! -Glenn

 

[Things]

i couldn't read the purple text when i first looked. pepare to get out you serious money, unless you make your own!

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

If you just want UV, try the item 4334 1 watt uv emitter from DX. Put it in a 1 watt Dorcy and get a flood of (non-laser) UV light !! Almost as good as a laser -------- well --- Not really ...

Mike

 

[AJ_Dual]

If you just want UV, try the item 4334 1 watt uv emitter from DX.  Put it in a 1 watt Dorcy and get a flood of (non-laser) UV light !!  Almost as good as a laser -------- well --- Not really ...

Mike

Funny, I am awaiting shipment from DX on that exact LED, along with a cheap DX 1-watt MXDL "Elly" flashlight I intend to use as the host. Although, at 395-410nm it's going to be a lot closer to a Blu-Ray laser diode in color. It's barely into the UV, sort of straddling violet and near UV.

The good news is that ALL the shorter wavelengths are energetic to flouresce some things. Like the example of the green laser above. I've noticed this too with my green lasers, certian red and pink dyes and plastics glow a brilliant orange-yellow. And even a simple blue LED is short enough in wavelength to flouresce many "day-glow" items. (Which is intentional, and how the "day-glow" effect is achieved, flourescing a bit on the ambient blue and violet light from sunlight, and indoor lighting...)

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

AJ --

That's the stuff I used for my UV flashlight.  Here's the trick.  I had to remove the "star" with the regular diode to make room for the UV.  The star is made of aluminum with a thin circuit board on top.  You will need that "star" for heatsinking.
I machined the diode and circuit off the aluminum with a 1/2" end mill.  The "slug" on the back of the diode appears on mine to be electrically neutral -- This is the heat sink --  USE IT -- NO $h1T plus a little Arctic 5 or whatever you have.
My MXDL is driving this to about .8 Watts.

Update -- I meant "ELLY" not Dorcy. I'm no good with names :

MIke

Oh ---- The little lead with the hole is +.

 

[AJ_Dual]

Sorry for non-laser thread-drift.

But thanks for the advice! I'm sure I'll be pestering everyone on the CPF modding forum to death.