What aspect of lasers interests you the most?

[Schrecken_Licht]

Obviously everyone here is into lasers at some level or we wouldn't be here, but what aspect or use of lasers do you find most fascinating? Not necessarily that you have a job that deals with lasers (I used to but that was a long time ago and I didn't directly operate a laser), but just something that you find interesting, like laser/light shows, lasers in medicine. etc.


Personally for me I find the "dark side" of lasers to be very captivating - namely the destructive brute force power that some lasers can achieve. I am keenly interested in laser weapons (and all directed energy weapons, like microwave weapons) - the real kind currently under development by the US military (though I do like sci-fi like Starwars and other sci-fi with futuristic technology). Obviously this isn't a professional thing (that would be awesome!) but a personal interest.

It truly amazes (and at some level gives me the creeps) that certain frequencies of electromagnetic radiation can wreak such destruction on matter! Light is generally thought of as harmless (at least by those who don't know its nature and what happens when that light is coherent laser light), but not so if you have a multi-kilowatt laser beam!


In the mean time, I just fire up the Beast and let my imagination run wild!

 

[spyrorocks]

I love the look of the light piercing the atmosphere outside at night. Looks awesome, and always amazes other people.

 

[BlueFusion]

Everything.
Even just being able to burn something 'over there' with nothing more than light fascinates me.
But really everything.

 

[Razako]

It's always fun firing up a 300mw green laser at night and being able to touch buildings/mountains/other objects miles away with bright green beam of light that can be seen from miles around. I have always been into collecting high tech gadgets and it's cool having a hand held laser that can light cigarettes/matches/fuses and burn a glowing hole through paper. My blue RPL on a foggy night is especially good at impressing people because most of them have never seen or heard of blue lasers outside of the movies.

 

[rog8811]

It is the process of design and construction that does it for me..... other than my first blueray (used almost daily as a pointer with a video microscope) my burners and spiro's gather dust for most of the time. It is a case of been there, done that, next!

Regards rog8811

 

[styropyro]

It's the burning that does it for me. I am a pyromaniac so a laser that burn things sounded pretty sweet when I first got into lasers. I also like the the visible beam and air though.

 

[Scriabin]

I'm interested above all in the physical- chemical process which make a laser works.
I love also any visual effect of the visible lasers(my wish is to collect every lasers visible wavelenghts : ).
Last but not least, the effects of high pulse power in a small point(in future I'll try to add a q-switch to my yag laser)

 

[xJumper]

Burning stuff in general, shooting a big green beam across the sky for everybody to see, puting some street lights out of action for a few seconds. Lolz

 

[Ace82]

Schrecken_Licht, I love you. "The dark side", you bad little Sith.... so I presume you would have a red light saber huh? I would have a blue one.

I love having "the power of the sun at your finger tip", can't remember where I read that.....

Lasers fascinate me because the science/physics of them mainly, and all the characteristics they produce.

 

[Event_Horizon]

I am really interested in the physical processes of creating and harnessing laser light.

Lasers are the solution to a problem we have not yet encountered.



And my ideal lightsaber would be violet.

 

[Razako]

Schrecken_Licht, I love you. "The dark side", you bad little Sith.... so I presume you would have a red light saber huh? I would have a blue one.

I love having "the power of the sun at your finger tip", can't remember where I read that.....

Lasers fascinate me because the science/physics of them mainly, and all the characteristics they produce.

Pretty sure that saying comes from somewhere on this site.
http://www.polarion-store.com/pd_helios.cfm $2200 5000 lumen flashlight

 

[Curiously_Coherent]

For me it's the purity of colour. Having a very limited palette ( I only have 5 colours so far ) forces me to find new techniques for combining them to create the artworks I visualize in my mind. Now that I have some dichros to experiment with I'll be able to add a few more secondary colours and then I'll move on to TTL modulation and scanner techniques. My goal is to eventually have a fiber optic tail "paintbrush" which is capable of almost any colour in the visible spectrum, with which I would create illustrations in long time exposures.

But first I need to understand all the underlying science... which is why this forum is a wellspring of inspiration for me. (Thanks)

Of course, if I won a lottery, I could just buy one of these...

 

[bob12345]

For me it's the purity of colour. Having a very limited palette ( I only have 5 colours so far ) forces me to find new techniques for combining them to create the artworks I visualize in my mind. Now that I have some dichros to experiment with I'll be able to add a few more secondary colours and then I'll move on to TTL modulation and scanner techniques. My goal is to eventually have a fiber optic tail "paintbrush" which is capable of almost any colour in the visible spectrum, with which I would create illustrations in long time exposures.

But first I need to understand all the underlying science... which is why this forum is a wellspring of inspiration for me. (Thanks)

Of course, if I won a lottery, I could just buy one of these...

Research is currently underway to produce optical antennas - just like radio antennae but uh, they pick up visible light. In 20 years we should be able to watch and listen to our radio transmissions :-X

 

[jayrob]

For me, it just amazes me that light can be so concentrated and projected so far, with such a relatively small power supply?? It boggles my mind. Enjoying astronomy (another mind-boggling hobby), a beam in the night sky is awesome. As I learn more, the best thing for me I think, is the building and learning how to build DIY lasers. This is a really great hobby!
Jay

 

[Ace82]

For me, it just amazes me that light can be so concentrated and projected so far, with such a relatively small power supply?? It boggles my mind. Enjoying astronomy (another mind-boggling hobby), a beam in the night sky is awesome. As I learn more, the best thing for me I think, is the building and learning how to build DIY lasers. This is a really great hobby!
Jay

I so agree with you. But just imagine, the power of the sun, not limited to a single beam, but spread 360 deg.!!!! However, not just a small power supply! 3volts, now 3 miles away! lol

 

[Switch]

Burning and pretty, shiny lights sums it up for me
You know what would suck? An IR lightsaber.Call an ambulance! I need to get my leg reattached again....didn't know it was on...