What color will burn stuff the best?

[intrigue]

well intrigue just because i have an answer for your counter statements to mine it doesn't make me defensive...... edit here... i had a long rant typed but i went back and read again..

i am not saying violet has more energy per proton. i am not saying violet is stronger...i am clearly answering the question asked in the title. "which color burns the best.

if you wanna get technical thats fine.... but when a new member asks the question it is assumed for "pointers". and for pointers the answer is violet.

michael

I think there was a misunderstanding, I wasn't countering your statement (it happens on the Internet). The only reason I thought you were being defensive was because you said you'd be kind, which I thought insinuated that you had harsh remarks prepared that you witheld due to my join date.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Cheers ,

Jon

 

[chipdouglas]

youre right intrigue i was a little harsh... lets make lemonade LoL

michael

 

[hakzaw1]

why not this one? rayfross
it has a 90second duty cycle

Hey Buckeye--wheres your post in the welcome section? Best to intro yrself--Welcome from a Canton boy.

 

[Pontiacg5]

If you want to get technical, bluray can burn better than green or red, only because the power can be focused to a smaller point because of the smaller wavelength. A red diode can only be focused down to 660nm, a green can go to 532nm and a bluray can go down to 405nm. That is why CDs use IR diodes and can only fit 700MB on a disk, DVD uses red and can fit 4.7GB and bluray can fit upwards of 30GB because more tracks can fit in one disk because the laser beam can be focused smaller. The "next generation" of disk media will probably have an invisible deep UV laser diode (If disks are not phased out by that time)

In the real "laser enthusiast" world, that is irrelevant because there is no way to hold a laser and match that perfect distance apart where the beam size is the same as the wavelength. So, it would come down to what you are burning. If you wanted to burn a red match obviously you would pick a bluray or green laser because a red match will reflect all of the red light. If you wanted to burn paper you would pick a bluray. I guess if you wanted to find the "best" you would have to make a list of which wavelength burns what stuff and total the results. Whichever color burns the most stuff could be called the best. Overall it kind of evens out I think, no color is better than the other.

Or you could just carry a black sharpie around and then it wouldn't matter

(Just because of the natural "cleaner" beam of the green, I believe that it is better for burning andpointing. But that is only my opinion and everyone else will ahve a different opinion.)

 

[Xplorer877]

I agree with intrigue. It's absorption, not wavelength. If you look at the whole EM spectrum the interval of visible light is just a tiny portion. The differences in the energy of the photons is negligible when it comes to heat absorption.

In general, common items people attempt to burn are more likely to absorb 405nm than 660nm.

But it also comes down to focusing, like G5 mentioned. By maximizing mW per square mm you're increasing the amount of heat the material will absorb, regardless of the absorption characteristics of said material.

Technically, yes, 405nm coherent light can be focused to a smaller point than 660nm. But I don't think that makes a big difference in our case. 405nm light can be focused to a point with a diameter equal to that of its wavelength, and you're not gonna get it focus down to anything smaller than a pin prick with an Aixiz lens. The tolerances are not even close. For our purposes I don't think the wavelength affects how tight you can focus the beam.

-Tony

 

[o0ICE0o]

Bluray

 

[Austin]

I have a 200mw red/green lasers...judging from the color, i luv red one, while the power would be lower than green one